Guardians of Kanto
by Artemis173
Summary: Every time this story is told, the guys get all the credit. Why don't we let the girls have some of the spotlight this time? The story you all know and love, with the girl as the main protagonist. Miss Leaf Green's journey starts a chain reaction. Watch as she proves herself to her rival, her region, and the legends.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I thought a lot about how I wanted to start this story over again, and with the help of PrestigiousP, I decided to do a prologue to start things off again. For those of you reading this for the first time, this is going to be an adventure story with some OldRivalshipping thrown in. It will go through the events of the Leaf Green/ Fire red games with the girl as the main protagonist, and eventually connect all the story lines of all the following games. Leaf green, Heart Gold, Emerald, Platinum, Black, Black 2. This will be my second attempt at writing this story, with some more realistic tendencies thrown in.**

**Remember in this story:**

**-You must be twelve to have a Pokémon, unless otherwise granted by your parents.**

**-You must be twelve to be a trainer. If you have a ****Pokémon and your under the age of twelve, you can not travel or challenge the gyms.**

******-****Pokémon live everywhere, not just in forests and grass**

**********-Not everyone has a ****Pokémon. If your an adult, you're less likely to get attacked so you don't need one**

**************-Every region has a different age limit for being a trainer**

Prologue

"I think that on the other side, is a portal to a magical kingdom!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air.

"Wow!" My brother gasped, his eyes wide with wonder.

"But the kingdom is very small, so when you step through the portal, you shrink!" I explained. "And then you're only as tall as your pinky finger!"

Red held up his chubby little hand and wiggled his smallest finger. "Why does it have to be so small?"

"Because it's a secret kingdom. It has to be small so no one will ever find it." I explained. "You'd be so small, that a mushroom could look as big as our house!"

"Really!?" Red asked.

"Really!" I said. "And a Rattata could eat you up in one chomp!"

"Oh NO!" Red shouted, getting more excited as the story went on.

"And when a Pidgey flapped its wings, it would cause a tornado!"

"Then how would the tiny kingdom not get wrecked?" my brother asked.

"Because it's magic! Everyone there would just cast a spell and protect the town, or make the Pidgey go away." I said.

"Ooooh," Red said.

We were both sitting on the soft grass in front of the white picket fence that marked the edge of town. This was the most fun place to play, even though we had to move out of the way every once in a while for people who wanted to walk by, but that didn't bother us. We didn't have an actual playground in Pallet Town, so this was the next best thing. The field of grass was big enough to run around in, and we never got lost cause the fence marked the city limits. I sat on my knees in the soft green grass, my blue dress slightly moving in the breeze. Red was sitting cross legged listening to my story.

"I want to go there!" Red exclaimed. I smiled at my 3 year old brother sweetly.

"Red, it's just a story remember. I don't know that that's what's on the other side!"

"But it could be right!? You've never been before." Red pointed out.

"Well, no. Daddy works at the lab, and Mommy works at the school. And Grandma and Grandpa live in town. We don't have any reason to leave." I explained.

"Right." Red conceded, looking down. I didn't show it on my face, but I was sad too. I wanted to know what was on the other side just as badly as he did.

"Tell me another story!" Red demanded happily.

"Another one?" I asked.

"Yeah!"

"Well, let me see…" I wracked my brain, trying to come up with another story for what could be on the other side of the tall grass.

"BOO!" I heard behind me.

"AAHH!" I yelped. I jumped up and turned around. A kid my age with spiky brown hair was laughing at me.

"Gary, that wasn't funny!" I yelled, not happy about being scared.

"Yeah it was, you should've seen how high you jumped." He laughed, causing me to flush from embarrassment. He stopped laughing after awhile, but he still smirked in satisfaction.

"So what'cha doing?' he asked curiously.

"Just playing." I said, still not happy.

"Hey Gary, what do you think is behind the tall grass?" Red asked innocently.

"Isn't it obvious? Pokémon are behind it." He said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"They live in there. That's what my Grandpa told me."

"But then why do some live in town?" I asked.

People had them in their homes, or sometimes they just wandered around town. There was a Pidgey nest right on top of our roof as a matter of fact.

"Pokémon live everywhere. Only some can live in towns, but most of em' live in forests and stuff."

"How would you know?" I asked. "You've never been to a forest."

"Yeah, but my Grandpa has, and he's a researcher. He knows all kinds of stuff!" Gary finished.

"Do you think we could see one if we went in there?" Red asked.

"Probably." Gary concluded.

"Red, no. We're not allowed. Mom and Dad would get mad at us." I said, stopping Red before he got any ideas.

"Aww, your just a scaredy Meowth aren't you?" Gary taunted.

I narrowed my eyes and glared at him. "No way! I'm not scared; it's just against the rules!" I argued.

"You are so scared!"

"Am not!"

"Are to!"

"Am NOT!"

"Are TO!"

"I'm NOT scared!" I screamed, tired of this argument.

"Then prove it. Go step into the tall grass!" Gary challenged.

I looked at the wall of grass that was taller than me. I swallowed loudly. I didn't think it was a good idea, but I couldn't let Gary tease me about it for the rest of my life!

"Red, stay back." I ordered. Red looked worried for me.

I walked over to the opening in the fence and stepped a bit closer to the edge of the grass. I was three steps away from entering it.

It was awfully dark in there. The grass was all moved over and parted where people had stepped through it. It looked a bit like a cave; I couldn't even see any light.

I took another step, shutting my eyes tight. I was afraid, I thought to myself. I knew this was dangerous. I could get attacked by something. I didn't want that, and Mom and Dad would be really mad at me. I was supposed to set a good example for Red. Even though I was only a year older, I was still the big sister. I opened my eyes a crack, peering into the darkness.

I had always been curious about what was on the other side, but I was never reckless enough to actually find out. I was one step away from completely being in the grass.

"Come on! What are you waiting for!?" Gary shouted.

I glared at him again before turning nervously back to the overgrown foliage.

_Maybe I could get it over with quickly, _I thought. I could step in, wait 2 seconds, and then step out. There was no way a Pokemon could attack me that fast right?

I took a deep breath. I had to do this now before I chickened out. Before I could think about it any more, I took one big leap forward, Gary and Red leaving my sight as I was swallowed by the grass.

I landed in the grass. It was tall on all sides; so tall that I couldn't see around me, and it was dark. The sun had been out just a minute ago, but now the clouds were blocking out all light from the sky, making it look even dimmer.

"Okay, I did it. Now to just-" I started to say.

***Rustle***

I froze. Something had moved, and it wasn't me. I should have just jumped back out of the grass, gotten away where it was safe, but I was paralyzed by fear.

***Rustle***

I heard it again, but I couldn't see it. I looked around, seeing nothing but grass and darkness. I was really scared now. What if it was a wild Pokémon? What if it attacked me? I shouldn't have listened to Gary, I should have just walked away.

***Rustle***

I whipped my head around, facing the direction opposite I'd came from.

"Who's there!?" I asked nervously. My eyes met another's.

They were blue and bright, the colour of the summer sky. And they were curious. They looked into mine like they were looking into my soul. I couldn't move in that moment, nor could I speak. I felt as if time itself had stopped all around us.

The one the eyes belonged to didn't look menacing though, which was a relief. They looked at me with wonder, as if I was the only one of my kind on earth. It was a strange gaze, and it made me feel something stir deep in my heart.

"Hello?" I whispered, afraid of scaring it. It backed away a little deeper into the grass, but its eyes never left mine. I was afraid to take another step, so I just leaned in closer, trying to see if I could make out any other features of the blue-eyed creature.

"Leaf!" someone yelled my name. Then suddenly, I was being swooped up in someone's arms. I looked up at the person who had caught me, and saw my father looking me over.

"Are you alright? What were you doing?" he asked in a panicked voice.

"I-I…" I started, looking around for Gary and Red, but they were no longer there. _How long had I been in there?_

"You know you're not supposed to go into the grass unless your mother or I is with you! Why would you do this?" he asked me sternly. His dark brown hair was ruffled, a sign that he had run here, and his brown eyes were clouded with worry.

***Rustle***

I heard the noise again. I turned away from my father, searching for the creature in the grass. "But Daddy-" I started

"No buts. Your brother Red had to come tell me what you were doing. It's just a good thing you weren't hurt-"

"Daddy look!" I yelled as the creature from before shot straight up from the long grass. I didn't make out much of it, as it was moving too fast, but I managed to glimpse its piercing blue eyes again. That was all I could see before the flash of pink disappeared out of sight.

Both my father and I were stunned into silence. I had never seen a Pokémon move that fast before and I don't think he had either. We watched the skies for a few moments of silence before my father turned to look at me.

"Leaf, promise me you won't do that again." He said.

My green eyes looked into his brown ones, and I knew I wouldn't be able to argue with him on this. Nor did I want to.

"I promise." I said, hugging my father around the neck while he cradled me in his arms. He turned around, and carried me all the way back to the house.

While he walked I stared over his shoulder and watched as the wall of grass got further and further away. I stared at it with wonder and longing. My curiosity about what was on the other side had not been squashed by the fear I'd felt today. If anything, it only made it burn brighter, like a fire in my chest.

As we made it back home that day, I thought about the promise I'd made to my father. Normally, I would have done my best to honor it.

But a part of me knew, even at such a young age, that I would not be able to keep it forever.

**A/N: Again, sorry if you read the first draft and then found out I was starting over again. I know that must be annoying, but I believe it will be better in the long run.**


	2. Chapter 1: And So It Begins

**A/N: A lot of this is the same, but there are parts that are different. It now includes back-story about the father and some of the explanations I mentioned in my first authors note. Let me know what you guys think!**

Chapter 1: And So It Begins

"A, A, A! Now jump! Down, B, and, just a little more! VICTORY!"

I threw my controller into the air. It didn't go very far, being attached to the Nintendo system, but it landed on the soft carpet.

"Man, that's got to be my highest score yet," I said proudly.

I'd been working on this level of my video game for at least a week, and now my score was even higher than that of my rivals. I actually didn't play video games a lot, but when my spiky-haired, next door neighbor so rudely assumed that I couldn't match his count, well, I simply had to prove him wrong. I looked at the clock mounted on my wall and realized I had better get going. I turned off the NES and got ready to go out.

I was already dressed in my favorite red skirt and blue top, but I needed shoes. I slipped on my blue leg warmers, as it was rather cool out today, and put on my red and white shoes. They weren't the best for running in, but they'd get me where I needed to go. I grabbed my white hat with the red pokéball symbol on it, and I was all set! I noticed that my last potion bottle was sitting on my desk next to my bag, and decided to take it.

_You never know when you might run into an injured Pokémon,_ I thought to myself. I threw it inside my yellow shoulder bag, and proceeded down the stairs.

I walked down the stairs to find my mother and little brother already eating breakfast at our dining room table. My mother had light brown hair that she pulled back into a ponytail, along with a white skirt and red sweater on. She had green eyes like mine. I looked at my brother with a twinge of sadness in my chest, but it faded quickly.

My brother took after my late father, with very dark brown hair, border lining on black, and brown eyes. He was a year younger than me, and I loved him to death. He was the sweetest guy in the whole world, and he seemed to care about everyone.

"Good morning!" I said as I approached the table, grabbing a piece of toast for myself.

"Good morning Leaf!" my mother responded cheerfully.

"Where are you going?" Red asked, probably wondering why I wasn't sitting down to eat breakfast with them.

"The professor who lives next door asked your sister to help him with something today." My mother responded for me while I devoured my toast quickly.

"Well why didn't he ask me to help? I'm helpful!" my brother Red wondered. I ruffled his hair with my hand as I washed my breakfast down with orange juice.

"I know you are. Don't worry, he probably just asked me because it was something boring," I reassured him as I set down my empty glass.

My brother mumbled something in-coherent as he put on his red hat. He always got so embarrassed when I treated him like a little kid.

"I'll be back in a while!" I yelled as I went out the door.

I walked down the cobblestone path that lead up to our house before turning to look at the house directly beside mine. Pallet town was pretty small. The smallest town in the Kanto region I was pretty sure, so I didn't have many neighbors. It just so happened the ones I did have I couldn't stand.

"Professor Oak and Daisy are just fine, it's the other one that's a pain." I said to myself.

Red and I had been helping the professor out with his research in any way we could since we were kids. It wasn't odd for one or both of us to help the Professor out when he asked us too. I considered heading over to the professor's lab right away, but then I looked at my watch and saw that I had a bit of time before I had agreed to be there. So I thought I'd take a walk.

I headed directly north of town, to where the grass got taller. My footsteps pounded on the soft grass as I journeyed to my favorite place. Memories flashed in my head of when Red and I were just kids. We used to come here all the time, and I would make up silly stories about what kinds of things would be on the other side of the tall grass. Thinking about the stories made me giggle out loud a bit. I had quite the imagination as a kid. Secret kingdoms, terrible monsters, portals to other dimensions. That was a long time ago though, and both Red and I had grown out of coming up with make-believe stories. But still, even after all these years it was still my favorite place.

I stopped walking as I came up towards the outskirts of town. There was only one way towards the next city over, and it was through the opening in the white picket fence that marked where Pallet ended and the rest of the world began.

Between the picket fences, was a wall of overgrown grass. It sprouted up on the farthest sides, and was squished down a little in the middle, where other people had stepped on it to get through to the path beyond. The population of Pallet was very small, so there weren't a lot of places to work. Most people worked in the next city over, as it was only a half-hour walk, tops. Pallet town was a sweet town though. The people who lived here loved it, so much that even though it would be easier just to move to the next city for work, they stayed here. Once you moved here, it was really hard to convince yourself to leave. But secretly, that's all I've ever dreamed of doing.

I took a step closer to the cave-like opening, wanting so badly to step through to the other side. The memory from 8 years ago flashed in my mind. Summer sky eyes and a pink flash of light. My father's arms holding me securely. Maybe that was one of the reasons I wanted to leave so badly.

Everything in this town still reminded me of him.

My father had passed away 8 years ago. The memory that kept flashing through my mind happened about four months before he died. I didn't really know the details, as my mother was heartbroken when it happened and hated talking about it. All I'd been told was that it was a lab accident. He had been working with some special research team in another town, and there was an accident. That's all I knew.

I felt something hot and wet slip down my face and realized that I was crying. I wiped the tear away, hating myself for crying at a memory. I just missed him so much, even now. I was only four when it happened, and sometimes my memories felt like they were fading away every day. I was always scared that someday, I wouldn't remember his face anymore. But then I would pull out the picture I always kept in my bag of the four of us from 8 years ago, and I instantly felt better.

When my father died, I kept the promise I made to him. I had never ventured into the tall grass on the edge of town ever again. I felt like I was honoring his memory by confining myself to this place. In my entire life, I had never left Pallet town. My whole world was limited to this one, tiny space.

I wanted to be happy, but I wasn't. I loved my family, and all my friends so much, but I could never quiet the part of myself that always craved more.

My dream was to see the world. Meet new people, new Pokémon, go to faraway places and have fantastic adventures!

_But,_ I though sadly, _that was never going to happen_. Because I was forbidden to leave. Besides the promise I'd made to my father, I didn't have any means to defend myself with.

Pokémon were the creatures that inhabited this world besides us humans. People thought of them as partners, friends, and allies. But wild Pokémon, could be incredibly dangerous. That's why there was a law in place. Anyone under the age of twelve was forbidden to venture into a Pokémon's natural habitat unless they were accompanied by an adult or had a Pokémon. Children under the age of twelve were also forbidden to be professional trainers.

I knew that I could leave if I wanted to. I was twelve years old, the law recognized me as capable of taking care of myself if I ventured into a Pokémon's habitat. But something was keeping me here. My promise to my father was still important to me, but there was also my mother. She had been so broken when dad died. I was afraid of leaving her. I didn't want that to happen again. I didn't want her to feel the pain of anyone else she loved leaving her. And it wasn't just about leaving.

I wanted to be a trainer. Ever since I was a little girl, I'd wanted a Pokémon of my own. I wanted to train them, catch them, but I didn't have any way to get one of my own. People could get Pokémon from their parents. Some people could ask someone they knew who already had a Pokémon to go and catch one for them. I heard you could even buy Pokémon from some people, or win them as prizes. And then there were Pokémon eggs. No had seen a Pokémon lay an egg before, but all Pokémon hatched from one. Apparently they could be found sometimes at a daycare.

But my mother didn't have a Pokémon of her own. As hard as it was to believe, some people didn't. She worked in town, so she rarely left the town limits. And she was an adult, so the law recognized that she could take care of herself if she were to venture out into the wild. I didn't know anyone who could catch one for me. Well, that wasn't true, I knew Professor Oak, but he didn't battle anymore. He was a researcher now, so I didn't feel right asking him. I didn't have any money, and Pokémon eggs were rare enough as it was. No matter which way I looked at it, I didn't have the means to get a Pokémon on my own, as sad as that sounded.

I looked down at my watch. I had wasted too much time here as it was. I turned around to head back to the lab. But then I stopped.

One of my favorite things to do when I was here was to get as close to the edge of the grass as I could, just to see what I could see on the other side. I decided I might as well since I was here. It was a little bit dangerous, because one ran the risk of wild Pokémon jumping out at you, but the risk was part of the fun.

I took one step, then another. I was three steps away from the grasses edge. I flashed back to the memory, when I was challenged to enter it. I no longer felt fear when looking into the grass, only exhilaration.

I took one more step. Two steps away. I swear, I could almost make out a bit of light on the other side of that darkness. Another step, one step away. I planted my feet firmly on the ground.

I wasn't foolish enough to take that one more step. It was too dangerous. Secretly, I always did this hoping that I would see that pair of blue eyes again staring back at me. But in the 8 years I'd come back here since, I had never seen that mysterious creature again. I was about to turn around, when suddenly..

"WwwwwwwwaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIITTTTTTT!"

I heard the person screaming getting closer and closer until they almost ran me over. I jumped to the side, out of the way of the person running towards me. He abruptly stopped, trying to keep his balance before falling into the tall grass. He then immediately fell backwards, landing in a sitting position. I immediately recognized him, as I had known the man since the time I was born. He had grey hair and tan skin, and he was wearing a white lab coat over a pair of beige khaki's and a red shirt. It was Professor Oak.

"Professor, are you alright?" I asked, concerned that the older man had hurt himself while moving so fast.

"I-It's *gasp* dangerous *gasp* to-go *gasp* a-alone," he managed to get out, trying to speak and catch his breath at the same time.

"Professor, what are you talking about?" I asked as I offered him my hand.

"Y-you, were about t-to venture into the tall grass, un-unprotected!" he shouted back, a little less breathy that he had before.

"No I wasn't Professor. I remember what you taught me, and I would never be reckless enough to try and leave town on my own." I said back to him. He had known me for years, he knew I would never do something like that.

"B-but then why-" he started, but I interrupted.

"I was just seeing how close I could get to the grass. Seriously, I've come to play here since I was a little kid, I know the risks." I sounded like I was lecturing him, which I might have been a little. Ever since my father had died, he had been like a mentor to me and my brother. But he had also become incredibly over-protective. I needed him to know that I was fine.

"Oh, okay then." He said, straightening himself up. "When you didn't show up at my lab this morning I came looking for you. It's rather unlike you to be late Leaf."

"Late? Professor it's only 9:25. You asked me to be there at 9:30." I looked down at my watch, checking that the time was correct.

"9:25! I thought it was 9:45! Ah well, guess I worried for nothing then!" he laughed it off easily.

He was only 60, but it was obvious he was getting confused in his old age.

"Well, come now Leaf. We'd better get moving if you're going to assist me in my experiment." He said, hooking his arm in mine and pulling me along back to his lab.

"Professor, what **is **this experiment you want my help with anyway? You didn't tell me anything about it when we talked yesterday." I asked, curious as to what he needed my help with this time.

"Patience my dear, you'll see soon enough! And I promise you it'll be worth the wait!" he smiled mischievously at me. _What was going on?_

We walked through the front doors of his lab and he unhooked his arm from mine, gesturing for me to follow him into the back. He usually only kept the Pokémon he was studying in the back, so I wondered if he needed my help taking notes or something.

I followed behind him only to glare once I saw that a third person was already standing at the back of the lab, hands in pocket looking absolutely bored out of his mind. He wore purple cargo pants and a black shirt, and his eyes instantly narrowed when they met with mine. His amber colored eyes still offered a challenge every time they looked into my green ones, and his dark auburn hair was still as obnoxiously spiked as it usually was. Everything about him screamed confidence, which was why it was my eternal mission to always beat him when he offered me the chance to.

"Leaf," he acknowledged my presence, obviously unhappy to see me.

"Gary," I responded in much the same tone, letting him know the feeling was mutual.

He then instantly started to ignore my existence.

"Hey Gramps, why am I here? I've been waiting forever." He spoke impatiently.

He always spoke that way to everyone, like he was better than them. Another thing I hated about him. His grandfather was a world renowned scientist, and he couldn't even speak to him with respect!

"Aahh Gary, you're here too! Wonderful. You see I've called you both here today to help me with an experiment of mine. As you know, in the years of my youth, I was a Pokémon trainer, as well as a researcher. I caught all types of Pokémon and studied furiously to get to the point that I'm at in my life." I listened attentively, but Gary looked like he could fall asleep.

"But now, I am much older, and don't have the skills nor the time to do the field research that I still require in order to complete my life's work. So I called you two here to offer you a proposition." He gestured to the stainless steel lab table beside him, on which sat three red and white spheres, all spaced the exact same amount apart.

"Inside these three capsules called "Pokéballs" are the last three Pokémon that I hold in my possession. They are all loyal, faithful, and at an appropriate level in order to raise and train."

I could barely register what he was saying anymore. _He couldn't be saying what I think he's saying could he? He-he couldn't be seriously considering-_

"Consider this a gift from me to you. Go on, you may choose one of these three Pokémon, to keep as your own."

And so it begins…..

**A/N: I'm happy with the revision so far, but if I miss anything, I hope you guys will let me know. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 2: A Friend Indeed

**A/N: I think it's pretty obvious which one she's going to pick. And if you've read this before, you already know!**

Chapter 2: A Friend Indeed

I couldn't believe it. This had to be a dream! After 12 long years of wanting, and waiting and praying with all my might, my wildest wish was about to come true!? Just like that? I was speechless. I was probably in shock too. Nothing I could ever do would be enough thanks for what the Professor was about to give me. This morning I woke up an ordinary girl. But an hour later, I was going to become a Pokémon trainer!

"Leaf," my head snapped up.

I met the professor's eyes in what must have been bewilderment. I still couldn't speak. I could barely think for Arceus' sake!

"Go on. You may choose first," he gestured to the table again. _Was it really this easy? Did he even know how much this meant to me?_

"Hey Gramps!" and annoyed voice sounded beside me, shattering my awestruck feeling and replacing it with one of aggravation. "No fair! Why does she get to pick first?"

_Man, he was arrogant! What I wouldn't give to put him in his place for good! Seriously, could you be any more selfish?_

"Now now Gary, calm down. You'll get your turn," his grandfather tried to reassure him, "Besides, it's ladies first after all."

All Gary did was cross his arms in frustration. _Well_, I thought, _at least he was done complaining._

I slowly walked over to the stainless steel table. The three pokéballs looking like precious jewels in my eyes. And I was allowed to pick one. One Pokémon, for my very own. But how was I supposed to pick when I didn't know what creature hid inside which capsule?

"Which ones which?" I asked hesitantly, still afraid that this was all some sort of crazy dream and that saying the wrong thing would cause me to wake up.

"Oh, silly me! Of course you'd like to know what your choices are. Can't have you picking blind now can we?" he laughed as he walked over behind the table.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know about each one." He smiled at me.

I knew deep down inside that he **did **know how much this meant to me. And I found myself loving the professor even more for it. I pointed to the one on the far right, closest to the wall.

"What's this one?" I asked, a little more confident.

"This one is called Charmander, the fire type Pokémon. Fire types are awfully rare, and don't appear in the wild that often, but they do take a certain amount of patients to raise."

I thought about his words, sure it would be nice to have a rare Pokémon, but despite the knowledge of Pokémon that I had courtesy of Prof. Oak, I'd never raised one on my own before. Would I be able to raise the fire type well? I pointed to the one in the middle.

"What about this one?" I asked.

"That one contains Squirtle, the water type Pokémon. Water types are usually easy-going, and this one is definitely worth raising!" he praised it enthusiastically.

Squirtle sounded a little easier to raise, but what about that easy-going attitude he mentioned. Would the water type become lazy? _Oh, this was such a hard decision! Would I be a bad trainer_? I pointed to the last one, on the far left.

"And this one?" I asked. My voice shaking a little, betraying my inner doubts.

"Aahh, that one contains Bulbasaur, the grass-type Pokémon. Grass types are generally easy to raise and train, and are said to develop close bonds with their trainers. This particular one has a very friendly nature as well. He's very kind." He concluded, ending his descriptions of the three Pokémon I was destined to choose between.

All of them sounded good. What the Professor said was right, I'm sure all of them would make excellent partners to an amateur trainer like me. But the last description stuck in my mind.

_A Grass type, huh?_

I though back to the tall grass on the edge of town. How I desperately wanted to step through it and see what lay behind it. And from Prof. Oak's description, the last one did seem the easiest to raise. Perfect for a beginner.

_And_, I thought jokingly to myself, _my name was Leaf after all. It was like a sign!_

I smiled to myself, knowing that I'd made up my mind. I reached my hand over to the sphere on the far left of the table, grasping the cool metal in my slender hand. I picked it up and held it to my chest, feeling the life that pulsed inside.

_Mine,_ I thought to myself. A_fter so long, I finally have a partner and friend that was just _**_mine!_** I looked up at the professor, seeing that he knew I had made my choice.

"I choose the grass type. Bulbasaur." The name sounded right rolling off my tongue. The name of my new best friend.

"Good choice," was all Prof. Oak said. He looked on me with pride.

"Good, then I choose this one," Gary said, having come up behind me and picking up the one on the far right. The fire type that I had pointed to first.

"Excellent!" The professor said, bursting with excitement. "Now I want you both to raise those Pokémon right, and develop close bonds with them. And now that you have protection, I ask that you both try journeying to the next town over, to see how far you get. When you succeed, I ask that you return to the lab for the second part of the experiment."

"There's a second part?" I asked. _Wasn't giving us our Pokémon it?_ I thought.

"Yes. Giving you your own Pokémon was only the first step. But if you're going to be trainers like I once was, I want you to get a feel for the lifestyle of a Pokémon trainer first. Then I'll tell you about the task I really called you for." He concluded.

"Well, that makes sense. Thank you Professor," I bowed in respect. _I couldn't wait to meet my new friend!_ I thought. I started to leave the lab, ecstatic to show off my own Pokémon to Red and my mom, until someone called me back.

"Hey Leaf!" Gary shouted, causing me to turn around.

"Now that we both have our own Pokémon, how about a battle?" Gary asked his question confidently, like he'd already won.

"A battle?" I knew what battles were, but I'd never had one of my own before. But, I guess if I was going to be a trainer, I'd have to learn sometime right?

"Okay, why not?" I asked, excited that I had an excuse to release my new Pokémon.

"Alright then. Let's get started." He said as he threw his pokeball into the air. A sparkling blue light popped out to reveal a small, orange lizard like creature, with a tiny flame on its tail.

"Char-Charmander!" it said.

It was cute, but fierce looking too. I took hold of my sphere and pressed the white button in the center, like I'd been taught to do.

"Come on out!" I called as I threw the ball into the air. The same light escaped the capsule as it popped open, materializing into a four legged creature sitting on the floor in front of me.

It was green, almost a teal colour really, with spots all over its body. It had this big green bulb on its back, like a flower before it was ready to bloom. It turned around to face me. It had little white fangs protruding from its mouth, but they didn't look menacing. They were cute even, almost like baby teeth. And it had these big ruby red eyes that looked up at me with confusion and wonder.

_He,_ I remembered the professor calling it. _It's a boy, not an it._ I looked down at him in fascination. He was my Pokémon. Completely and 100% mine. And he was perfect. I crouched down to eye level.

"Hi there," I said, trying to contain my excitement. "I'm Leaf, it's nice to meet you!"

He looked kind of confused, but he walked up to me and put his front legs on my knees, sniffing me. He then smiled up at me with his big red eyes.

"Bulba-bulba-saur!" he said. And I was instantly in love.

'HE-LLO!?" Gary yelled from across the lab. "Are we going to battle or not?"

_Impatient as always, _I thought to myself. But I wasn't about to let that spoil my day.

"What do you say Bulbasaur? Wanna battle?" I asked. Bulbasaur instantly knew what I meant and nodded his head, turning back towards out opponents.

"Leaf, you've never even had a battle before. Are you sure you know what you're doing?" The professor asked, concerned.

"I'll figure it out, don't worry Prof. Oak!" I reassured him. I then turned back towards Gary. Any challenge he offered up, I would meet full throttle. A Pokémon battle was no different!

"Bulbasaur use Growl!" I yelled, knowing that lower level Pokémon knew that move. I was right, and Bulbasaur growled menacingly at Gary's Charmander. Gary however decided to take the offensive.

"Charmander, use scratch!" he ordered, completely ignoring the stat reduction.

Charmander ran up to Bulbasaur and raked it's claw across his face, knocking him back a few feet. But it didn't do as much damage as it should have. I was at an advantage.

"Bulbasaur, use tackle!" Bulbasaur acted immediately, slamming into Charmander with more force than he had.

"Charmander, scratch again!" Gary yelled, not wanting me to get the upper hand.

"Dodge it!" I commanded, using Charmander's own memento against him, he accidentally ran into a wall after Bulbasaur dodged.

"Charmander, get up!" Gary yelled, scolding his own Pokémon's mistake. I felt bad for Charmander, being stuck with a trainer like him.

"Bulbasaur, tackle now!" Bulbasaur and I were completely in sync. I'd never experienced anything like it. We acted like one entity, commanding and moving as one. Bulbasaur rammed into Charmander again with a force I could almost feel!

_What is this?_ I thought. _Is this what it felt like to battle? This was amazing!_

I ordered Bulbasaur to tackle Charmander one more time, knowing this battle was just about finished. Charmander slid across the lab floor as Bulbasaur impacted with him one last time. He collapsed at his trainers feet, not able to go on. I was high on this feeling. This feeling of winning, of beating my life-long rival, and of battling like I never have before.

_I loved battling, _I thought to myself. _And I wanted more._

"What? It's over!? Man, I picked the wrong Pokémon!" Gary complained as he recalled his fallen partner. Just like him to blame his mistakes on someone else.

"Well, I'll just have to train him more. Later Gramps, Leaf." He concluded as he walked out the lab doors. I couldn't contain my pride or my excitement any longer. I ran over to Bulbasaur and gave him a big hug! We had won! We had really and truly won and it felt great!

"Thank you Bulbasaur, you were awesome!" I said as I held him tightly in my arms.

"Bulba!" he responded happily. _Oh yeah, this was the start of a beautiful friendship._

"Well done Leaf! You're a natural at battling!" the professor praised me.

"Thanks professor, it was only because of everything I've learned from you." I responded honestly. I only knew as much about Pokémon as I did because he had taught me. He was my teacher and my mentor, and I was grateful to him for so many things.

"Well, now it's time for you to learn some new things, for yourself," he told me earnestly, "The next town over is called Viridian city. Once you make it there, come back and tell me. Oh and before, you leave, do tell your family where you're going. Wouldn't want to worry them now would we?"

I nodded. Then, with Bulbasaur still wrapped up in my arms, I made my way to the labs entrance.

_It's funny, _I thought to myself, _I walked in here this morning just like I do every week. But this time walking out, I'm a changed person._

I made my way out the double doors of the lab, thinking about how the world worked in mysterious ways. For so long I'd been alone in my dreams, but now I had a new best friend. One who in a matter of seconds had made all my dreams come true.


	4. Chapter 3: On My Own

**A/N: Next two chapter will be from the original draft, but then I'm going to be writing a chapter that wasn't in the story before. It's a step I missed before, but it will be in the story.**

Chapter 3: On My Own

I ran back home, still carrying Bulbasaur in my arms as I made my way up the cobblestone walkway and through the big solid oak door. I could've put him back inside his pokéball, but I wanted to show him off.

"Mom, Red! I need to show you something!" I yelled from the front hall. I kicked off my shoes and made my way into the living room.

Mum came in from the kitchen while I could hear Red coming down the stairs.

"Leaf, what is it? Is something wrong?" My mother responded in a worried voice, probably scared by my outburst. It was only when she saw what I was holding did she understand why I had sounded the way I had. She raised her right hand to cover her mouth, surprise present on her face, but also happiness. She didn't know how or why, but she knew once she saw me standing there what Professor Oak had wanted from me. Red came barreling into the living room a few moments later.

"What? What is it?" he asked expectantly. Then he saw Bulbasaur and his jaw literally dropped.

"Mom, Red. This is Bulbasaur." I said as a kneeled down and set my new friend on the floor of our living room. "Professor Oak, gave him to me."

"Oh Leaf, " my mother said. She looked like she was about to cry. A smile was present on her face, but I noticed the touch of sadness in her eyes. She knew what this meant for me.

"NO WAY! He just gave it to you! That is so awesome!" Red was ecstatic. He was lying down on the carpet in seconds, admiring Bulbasaur like a piece of art.

"Yup! I'm going to be an official Pokémon trainer now!" I announced proudly. I was not going to get tired of saying that anytime soon.

"That is so cool Leaf! Man, I wish I had a Pokémon too." He said, staring enviously at the way Bulbasaur nuzzled my leg.

"Well, you're only eleven Red. And now that I think about it, Prof. Oak did have one more Pokémon left once Gary and I chose ours…" I said, trying to raise his hopes.

"Really!?" he asked, hope shining in his eyes.

"Maybe if you ask really nice, and work with the professor really hard, he might just agree to let you have it for your birthday next year." I suggested. Knowing the professor, he'd think it was a brilliant idea.

"Good idea! I'm going to go ask!" Red said as he ran out the door.

"Now look what you've done Leaf, filling his head with dreams again." My mother said jokingly. "So, what does this mean for you?" she asked as she crouched down and petted Bulbasaur.

"Well, the professor wants me to see if I can make it to Viridian city on my own. But after that, I'm not sure what he wants," I said. But I had a sneaking suspicion that I already knew what came next.

"But I guess," I started, "That he'll ask me to go on a journey."

I let my words hang in the air after that. My mother was silent, as she stroked my new Pokémon's head. She was thinking. The reality of what just happened was now starting to sink in. I had a Pokémon of my own now, and I was twelve years old. I could leave town now. I could actually go on a journey, and be a trainer, and travel the world. It was a legitimate possibility. But what would happen to mom?

She could forbid me to go. She was still my legal guardian even if I was old enough to become a Pokémon trainer now. Without her consent, I wouldn't be able to leave on a journey until I was at least sixteen. But did I want to go? Would I be able to enjoy myself if I was worrying about her?

"Well then, it's a good thing I got you this." She stood up and reached into the pocket of her skirt, pulling out a blue card. She handed it to me. I looked at the card in my hand only to realize what it was.

It had my name on it, as well as my birth date and my registration number. It was a trainer card. My legal certification as a Pokémon trainer. I looked up at her, not believing what she had given me.

"You've been so patient Leaf. You deserve this." My mother said, smiling down at me.

I hugged her tightly, so grateful for everything she's done for me. She raised me and Red all on her own for 8 years after dad died, and now she was letting me go. I was in a state of total bliss. I was allowed to leave. My dream was coming true! I let her go and looked up at her.

"Do you think its okay? I promised remember?" I reminded her.

"Honey, you made that promise when you were four. Your father wouldn't have wanted you to stay in this town forever if you didn't want to. You're all grown up now. I think it's time to let that promise go."

I could feel my eyes swell with tears at those words. I wished my father was here so badly. He would've been so proud, so happy for me. But he wasn't, and that hurt. But my mother was still here, and she was giving me her blessing. All I had to do was take it.

"Thank you." I said.

I hugged my mother for a long time after that, just lingering in her embrace, and trying to convince myself that if my father was still here, he would be just as happy as she was.

"Well," I said after a while, "I better get going."

"Of course. Come back and visit sometime okay?"

"Of course." I concluded.

I recalled Bulbasaur to his pokéball and then hugged her one last time. Then I opened the door to my childhood home, and stepped out into a new world.

I knew what the first thing I wanted to do was, and now I had nothing holding me back. I ran to the edge of town where I had just been this morning. I walked towards the grasses edge.

Three steps, two steps, one step away.

_This was it_, I thought. _This was really happening_.

I lifted my foot and took the last step, and for the first time in 8 years, I was outside the town.

The grass surrounded me on all sides, but it was much less tall than I remembered it because I'd grown since then. It tickled my legs as I walked, and as I ventured farther in it got lighter and lighter, as the darkness of the tall grass grew thinner with each step. Finally, I came out on the other side.

I don't know what I expected. But all that was really there was an upward facing path. There was a lot more grass like the kind I'd walked through, and some ledges that looked too tall to climb, but perfect to jump down from. I would remember that when coming back.

I continued on my way, wading through patches of waist tall grass. I had my target in sight, and I wasn't about to lose to that arrogant rival of mine. So I pressed on farther.

I was surprised at the lack of Pokémon I was running into, but I wasn't complaining. I was fifteen minutes into my hike when I felt something watching me. I heard the grass rustle beside me, and was able to duck just in time for a purple mass to fly directly over my head. I looked up and saw a very angry looking Rattata. I called out my Pokémon.

"Go, Bulbasaur!" I called as the green creature appeared before me.

"Bulbasaur use Tackle!" I commanded.

Bulbasaur slammed into the annoying purple rat with purpose, but he wasn't done yet. The Rattata used Scratch against Bulbasaur's bulb, which seemed to cause him a lot of pain.

"Bulbasaur, Tackle again!" I said, and he responded instantly, slamming his body into the angry Pokémon again. Apparently the Rattata's bark was worse than his bite, since he fainted almost instantly.

"Guess he wasn't very strong," I thought out load.

Battling wild Pokémon sure was different than battling trainers. They were much weaker, and they didn't battle with any kind of strategy. I guess without a trainer to guide them, they weren't very hard to defeat. I thought about all of this as I continued to walk.

Before I realized it, the grassy plain of the path slowly started to disappear to be replaced with cement roads. I looked around, and knew immediately that I was close. I continued on a straight path, until I started to see buildings. And there it was.

With cute little houses and big buildings all mixed together. I had done it. I made it to Viridian city.

I was rather impressed with myself. Not that Viridian was that far away, in fact in couldn't have been more than a half-hour walk from Pallet town. But I had really done it, just me and Bulbasaur working together. It was a small victory, but I think I could get used to this.

_Okay, _I thought to myself. _Now that I'm here, what do I do? _

Prof. Oak wanted me to come right back and tell him. _But,_ I argued, _this was my very first time outside of Pallet._ I think I deserved a little time to explore. _Okay,_ I decided.

It was about 11:00 now. I would give myself an hour to walk around the city, then I would head back. But I didn't want to walk around by myself. I grabbed the pokeball clipped to my belt, and released who was inside.

"Bulba?" he questioned, confused as to why I called him out when there wasn't a battle.

"Do you wanna go exploring with me Bulbasaur?" I smiled down at him, still hardly believing that he was mine.

"Bulb! Bulba!" he nodded excitedly.

And so our journey began. We walked around the city, exploring all the big public buildings that we were allowed into. The one with the red roof was a Pokémon center, and it was run by a lovely woman named Nurse Joy. From there we visited the cities flower garden, and we even talked to some of the citizens.

_This place is nice_, I thought. _It's not much bigger than Pallet, and its rather pleasant here_.

We continued to wander around town until we came to a big white building with a beige coloured roof. I went around to the front only to see through the glass doors that it was completely dark inside. What was this place?

"Are you a challenger?" a voice sounded from behind me. Bulbasaur and I spun around to see an older man wearing sunglasses behind me.

"Um, a challenger for what?" I asked, not sure what he was referring too.

"Oh, sorry you must be a new trainer. Is this your first Pokémon?" he asked, noticing Bulbasaur near my feet.

"Oh yes, this is Bulbasaur and my name is Leaf." I introduced us both.

"Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur sounded below me. He was just so cute!

"It's nice to meet you Leaf. My name is William. Sorry if I confused you earlier, it's just that people don't normally approach a Pokémon gym unless they want to challenge the leader." He explained.

"Um, could you explain about that? If you don't mind. " I asked, curious about what he was trying to explain. I think I had heard about Pokémon gyms, but I didn't know much about them.

"Of course. A Pokémon gym is where trainers go, such as you, to challenge the gym leader, one of the strongest trainers in the region, to a Pokémon battle. If you win the battle against the gym leader, than you win the gyms badge. It's like a trophy, to show that you won." The more he explained the more excited I got. _Gyms sounded cool! And I already loved battling. Maybe Bulbasaur and I could challenge one together._

"Unfortunately, the Viridian city gym leader hasn't been back to the gym in a while. And in his absent the gym has fallen into disarray," he admitted. "People don't come around as much to Viridian city anymore because of it."

"Oh, that's so sad." I said, disappointment apparent in my voice.

"But there are other gyms in other cities. I think in all of Kanto, there are seven others besides this one." He told me, upping my spirits.

'Really?" I asked.

"Yes. It's been a little difficult ever since the eighth gym closed, but if a trainer were skilled enough to receive all eight gym badges, then they would be eligible to compete against the Elite Four, and battle for the title of League Champion."

This man's story sounded like a quest that a person in an adventure novel would take. Traveling to all corners of the region, fighting the strongest trainers in all the cities, and then competing for the title of Champion!? My heart beat faster and faster the more I thought about it. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to try it.

"So, how does someone get the eighth badge?" I asked, curious as to that problem.

"A League representative will be sent to battle against any one trainer who earns seven badges. It's only a temporary fix though. Sooner or later, a new gym leader will be selected to take over. Hopefully before you have to worry about it." He smiled at me.

I checked my watch and realized an hour had come and gone.

"Sorry sir, but I need to get going. Thank you for your help!" I yelled as I ran, returning Bulbasaur as I did so.

"Any time my dear, any time!" He called after me cheerily.

I thought back to the gym challenge as I ran though town. _Man, it sounded like so much fun!_ And it fit in with my original dream of traveling. Maybe if I went on my own journey, I would be able to do both. I ran into the nearest Pokémart, looking to buy another potion for the trip back to Pallet Town.

"Hey! Are you from Pallet town?" the salesclerk asked me.

"Yes, I am," I responded.

"I've got an order here for a Professor Oak. Do you think you could take it to him?"

"Yeah sure! I was going there anyway!' I told him, accepting the parcel.

I bought my potion, then headed out the door, thoughts racing with fantasies about gym battles and far away cities. As I ran back towards the outskirts of Viridian city, I became set on the goal in my mind.

I was going to go on a journey, make the professor proud, and take the league challenge. I was going to test my own strength, to see if I really could become a great Pokémon trainer. That was my dream. And I would accomplish it, all on my own.


	5. Chapter 4: I Promise

**A/N: I think the re-write is going well. I like the father aspect of Leaf's character that wasn't in the original. Next chapter will be completely new!**

Chapter 4: I Promise

The trip back from Viridian city only took half as much time because of all the ledges scattered around the grassy plain. As I suspected heading up to Viridian, they were the perfect height to jump down from, and it made my trip back to Pallet town only 15 minutes instead of double that. I didn't even need to bring out Bulbasaur.

By the time I had made it back to Pallet though, it was only 12:15. I decided I would head back to the lab and see what the second part of the professors experiment was. I walked in the front doors, expecting the calm demeanor of the lab I had left just a few hours ago. But instead, I found my younger brother Red running around like he was on fire, carrying a stack of paperwork that was almost as tall as he was.

"Red. What are you doing?" I asked, completely confused.

"Huh? Leaf? Is that you? Where are you? I can't see." He turned in all different directions, unable to see over the stack of papers blocking his eyes. I went up to him and took at least half of the pile, enabling him to see in front of his face again.

"Oh, there you are!" he smiled brightly. I swear, he's just always happy.

"I repeat. What are you doing?" I asked again, still confused.

"He's just making himself useful!" the professor exclaimed, coming up beside us. "Your brother was so adamant about helping me out, ever since hearing about your assistance in my research, that he volunteered to become my junior assistant around the lab!" I raised my eyebrow at my brother. Had he not asked the professor about the last Pokémon yet?

"I see," I said, "And, did he tell you what brought about this sudden, "urge" to help you out more?" I asked.

"Not specifically. But I don't mind the extra help. And your brother happens to be excellent company!"

I sighed. Red was very impulsive, and didn't always explain his intentions very well. I knew he wanted a Pokémon of his own just a badly as I had, but this wasn't the right way to get one. Meanwhile, Red was whistling to himself looking anywhere but me, trying to act all innocent.

"Professor, I think what Red really wants is the opportunity to have what you offered Gary and I this morning. Maybe, when he reaches our age?" I hinted, trying to get the professor to catch on.

"Oh, OH! Red, is this true? Did you offer your assistance to try and convince me to give you a Pokémon of your own?" the professor asked.

"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds kind of sneaky!" Red defended. "I just thought since you only have one left, that you might, possibly, consider, giving it to your other favorite young assistant." Red finished, gesturing to himself.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you Red, but the law says that no one under the age of 12 in the Kanto region can have a Pokémon of their own unless given to them by their parent or guardian. And you certainly can't go traveling until you're at least that old as well. Besides, I already have Leaf and Gary assisting me with my research."

Red looked disappointed. I think he may have deluded himself a little into thinking the professor was kind enough to give him a Pokémon before he became of age. But as his big sister, I just couldn't stand to see him looking so sad.

"Professor, I don't think Red meant to persuade you to go against the law, I just think he wanted to make sure you didn't give your last Pokémon away to someone else." I tried to argue, maybe lying a little bit about the law part. "Do you think you could maybe save your last Pokémon until Red turns twelve? After all, he's prepared to work really hard for it." I finished, gesturing for Red to say something.

"Yeah Professor! I promise, I'll work at the lab every single day if you need me too." He said, trying to convince the professor of his determination.

"Well, maybe it would be okay," Professor Oak said, "Truth be told, I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do with my last Pokémon. But Red, if you're so determined…" he trailed off, thinking.

"Okay! If you continue to help me out at the lab, for your twelfth birthday, I'll give you my last Pokémon."

Red looked like he could bounce off the walls he was so excited, and he didn't even have his Pokémon yet. Just the promise of someday having it was enough to turn him back into the fiery ball of energy I'd known and loved for eleven years.

"Oh yeah, professor, I just came back from Viridian City and-"

"WHAT!" he screamed. "You're already back!? You must be some sort of trainer protégé to be so good at traveling, and it's only you first day!"

"Well, thanks professor, but actually-"

"May I see your Pokémon for a moment Leaf?" he asked, interrupting me yet again. I complied and released Bulbasaur.

"My, he seems to have grown rather attached to you! And only after a few hours." He said, impressed.

"Professor, here!" I said, tired of being interrupted, and shoved the brown parcel the Pokémart employee had given me to deliver into his arms.

"Aahh my package! Thank you for bringing it to me Leaf," the professor said, ignoring my irritation.

"Gramps!" _Oh good. I get to see my _**_favorite_**_ person twice in one day_! I thought sarcastically.

"Aahh, Gary, your back too! Wonderful. Now to commence with phase two!" Oak said excitedly. "Red, you're welcome to come back as well." He said as he made his way to the back of the lab.

"What's the shrimp doing here?" Gary asked, referring to Red.

"Rather be a shrimp than have that hairstyle." Red retorted.

"Cute. Your sister come up with that for you?" _Oh, no he did not._

"Red doesn't need my help making fun of you Gary. You make it too easy." I smirked at my own remark while Red tried to hide his laughter. Bulbasaur even laughed.

"Wow, you two are hilarious. Tell me, is being a loser hereditary or were you two just unlucky?" he smiled. I gritted my teeth and my clenched my fists, anger rolling off my whole body.

"We are NOT losers! Or did you forget who won our battle this morning!?" I yelled.

He glared a little at that, but recovered quickly. "Beginners luck." Was all he said.

"Now Leaf, Gary," the professor came back, stopping me from ripping Gary's throat out. "This is my own personal invention. I call it a Pokédex. It's a digital encyclopedia that can record the information of any Pokémon you own or are able to capture. This is the second phase of my experiment. I want you two to travel around the entire Kanto region, and fill the Pokédex with the information of every Pokémon in the region. Once you do, my life's work will be complete. The rest, I leave to you."

I accepted the item professor Oak handed me. It was a red, square shaped piece of technology, which had a blue light and a cross-shaped button pad. The red panel flipped up to reveal a screen. It was an impressive invention.

"I'll also give you both 5 Pokeballs. To get you started on catching them. Now good luck to you both!" he concluded.

"Alright. Leave it to me Gramps. Leaf," he spoke to me, "I _**hate**_ to say it,"

_No you don't, _I thought to myself.

"But you probably won't be needed for this. An amateur like you, probably can't even catch a Pokémon." He whispered the last insult to me, not wanting his grandfather to hear.

"Well, we'll just have to see about that." I looked at him fiercely, accepting his challenge.

Gary started to walk away, before he called back. "Oh, and don't go asking my sister for any sort of help. She doesn't take kindly to losers." He spoke smugly.

"Yeah right! Daisy's like the kindest person in the world! And stop calling me a loser!" I shouted, losing my cool. Gary was the probably the only one in the whole region who could rile me up like that. I turned back to Red, seeing that he was looking at the floor and that his hat was covering his eyes. I knew that wasn't a good sign.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, trying to make him look at me.

"Nothing, I guess…..that you're going to have to leave now…" he spoke quietly.

The way he spoke made my heart drop all the way down to my feet. This whole time I'd been worrying about how mom would react when I told her I was leaving. But I had forgotten that she hadn't been the only one affected by my father's passing.

Red had looked up to my father more than anyone. Dad was his hero, and when we got the news that he wasn't coming back, Red's normal happy-go-lucky attitude disappeared for a long time. Eventually, he realized that dad wouldn't have wanted him to change like that if he were still around, and went back to being the eccentric brother I loved, but the pain of losing dad had never left any of us. And we knew it never really would. It just now donned on me that I wouldn't be able to see Red all that often if I was going on a journey. It would be like losing dad all over again for him. I pulled my brother into an embrace.

"I'm going to miss you," I said. And I was, more than anything.

He hugged me back. "You're going to come back though, right?" he asked, worried.

I smiled and looked down at him, making him meet my eyes.

"I promise that I will." I said. And I knew he believed me.

I would not leave him like dad had. No matter what I would always come back. I had broken an 8 year promise today, but maybe making this new promise to Red would make up for it.

I returned Bulbasaur and started to head out, planning on paying Daisy a visit, just to spite stupid Gary. Then it dawned on me that I may need to pack some more if I was going on such a big journey. I headed back home and opened the door, expecting to see my mother, but surprised to find that she was nowhere in sight.

I looked at the array of stuff she left on the dining room table. A change of clothes, sleeping bag, flashlight, water, and everything else I would need for a journey. There was a note that read, _Leaf, I went shopping, but had a feeling you'd be needing some of this. I love you, and good luck. Make me proud! XOXO Mom._

I smiled at her strangely psychic abilities. I packed all of the stuff up in my yellow bag, and went back out the door. I was walking up to my rival's house, when the person I was looking for suddenly came out the door.

"Hey Daisy!" I called, getting her attention.

"Hey! Just the girl I was looking for," she called back as she ran down her steps and up to me.

"You were looking for me? I was just about to come see you actually." I said.

"Had a feeling you would. My brother just came by and asked to borrow a town map from me, and then told me specifically not to lend you one." She explained. My blood boiled at how much of a jerk my neighbor was.

"So," she continued, "I came to give you this!" she shoved an orange cylinder shaped thing in my face. I took it from her, and then clicked the blue button in the center, having the cylinder split into two pieces. I pulled them apart, leaving a wide piece of paper suspended between the orange sections. The paper, I realized, was a map.

"Doing exactly the opposite of what my brother wants is one of my favorite ways to torture him. You can have the map to keep though." she smiled.

"Thanks Daisy!" I thanked her, "Sorry to take and run, but I better get going." I said as I waved and walked away.

"Good luck on your journey!" she called. She probably found out about our journeys from her brother or her grandfather.

Ten minutes later, I was walking back to Viridian while also reading the map Daisy had given me. It looked like my next stop was the Viridian forest, and then from there, Pewter city. I wondered if there was a gym leader there. If there was, Bulbasaur and I would totally take them on together. I was coming up with strategies, when I heard a familiar rustling sound.

"Oh no, not this again." I said out loud, preparing for another Pokémon attack. But the rustling wasn't coming from either of my sides. It was coming from, above?

I looked up to see a brown and beige flurry of feathers coming down right on my head. I moved as quickly as possible, having the creature land right in front of me. I recognized it immediately.

It was a Pidgey. Pidgey were one of the most common Pokémon in the entire Kanto region, as they could live almost anywhere with grass and trees. Besides the Pidgey nest that had been on the roof of my house when I was a kid, I'd actually known a Pidgey once, who had wandered into Pallet town with a broken wing. Professor Oak and I had nursed it back to health, and then let it go back into the wild. Ever since then, I hadn't thought of the small bird Pokémon as a nuisance like most others did. To me, Pidgey were legitimate Pokémon, just like all the others.

The little bird Pokémon chirped challengingly at me while flapping its wings like a mad Beedrill would. It wanted a fight, and I was inclined to give it one.

"Bulbasaur, I choose you!" I called as I released my friend. Bulbasaur came out, ready to battle.

The Pidgey immediately went into a Tackle attack, which Bulbasaur dodged with ease.

"Bulbasaur, use Tackle!" I called, and Bulbasaur complied.

But the little Pidgey just kept on tackling too. It was the only move it used, during the whole battle. It used it so much that it became downright predictable, and Bulbasaur had no problem side-stepping all of Pidgey's attacks.

Eventually, after using up so much energy, Pidgey just out-right collapsed. He wasn't even knocked out, he just was too tired to go on. I knew that you shouldn't approach a wild Pokémon, because you ran the risk of getting attacked, but watching that little gasping avian on the ground, I honestly felt a little sorry for it. I walked up to it and crouched down.

"Are you okay?" I asked, genuinely concerned.

The Pidgey jumped back up, and tried to flap its wings like before, but just ended up falling backwards out of sheer exhaustion. Suddenly I heard a lot of crowing sounds coming from all around me.

I looked around to see that there were many other Pidgey's peeking out of the tall grass, but they weren't looking to attack. In fact it looked like they were all laughing. Laughing at the little bird Pokémon that sat in front of me.

I looked back at the Pidgey on the ground and saw that his eyes had began to water, and his head was tilted towards the ground looking awfully ashamed.

_I think I understand what's going on here._ I thought. _This Pidgey must have been trying to prove himself to his friends by attacking a trainer. And now they're all laughing at him for not being able to finish the fight._

That sounded just awful to me. Now I really felt bad for the little guy. He may not have been able to beat me on his own, but what he **was** able to do showed an awful lot of courage. They shouldn't be laughing at him, what he did was very brave! I looked around at the laughing birds.

"Stop it!" I shouted, getting their attention.

"Don't you dare laugh at him! He may not have won, but he tried his very best and that should be enough for you!" The birds had stopped laughing. They looked rather embarrassed actually, they obviously weren't used to being scolded.

"In fact," I said, looking down at Pidgey, "I'd be honored to battle with someone like you."

The Pidgey looked around, as if I could be referring to someone else. He pointed a wing up at himself.

"Yes you. You may not be at a very high level. But you showed that you're brave. If you worked alongside a trainer, I bet you could be really powerful someday."

I looked over at Bulbasaur, and Bulbasaur nodded, showing that he agreed with my idea.

"Pidgey, would you like to come with us?" I asked. Pidgey looked like it couldn't believe what I was saying. I smiled at that, having felt exactly the same way this morning when Bulbasaur was given to me.

"I think that together, we could grow even stronger. So what do you say, want to be part of our team?" I asked.

"Pidgey! Pidgey!" He said while nodding his head vigorously. I guess that I had my answer.

Pidgey was already weakened from our battle, so all I did was take one of the Pokeballs that Professor Oak had given me, and tossed it lightly at Pidgey's small form. The ball opened once it tapped Pidgey's head, and then Pidgey was sucked inside.

The ball rocked once, twice, three times, before it clicked. _And there it was,_ I thought. I'd just proven Gary wrong again. I caught my very first Pokémon.

I called out Pidgey, and he flew down to rest on my shoulder. From there, we walked on-wards with Bulbasaur walking beside us.

"Okay you guys, we spent a lot of time here, so we should make it back to Viridian by 4 o'clock. What do you say we stay there for the night, then tackle the forest tomorrow?"

Both of my Pokémon nodded their heads in agreement. And so we headed off, on-wards on our journey. A lot had happened in one day, and honestly, I don't think I could've handled anything more. I now had not one, but two Pokémon, and I was going after my dreams of traveling, and hopefully, challenging the rest of the Pokémon gyms.

_Yeah,_ I thought to myself as I walked_, today had been a good day_.


	6. Chapter 5: Disappearing Act

**A/N: This story may not update on such a regular basis for a while because I'm still re-writing the chapter's I've written. Just so you are aware.**

Chapter 5: Disappearing Act

I woke up the next morning with a sense of change flowing throughout my body. I may not have looked very different, still being the same twelve year old girl I had been yesterday, but I felt like a totally different person. I turned over in the soft Pokémon Center bed and looked over at the two spheres on my bedside table.

_It really wasn't a dream. I _**am **_a Pokémon trainer._

I threw off the covers and jumped out of bed, ready to start the day. My life was no longer confined to the little town of Pallet. Now with my trusty Bulbasaur and Pidgey by my side, the whole world was mine to explore! I quickly washed my hair, brushed my teeth, put on my clothes and clipped my trusty Pokeballs to my belt. Today, I would tackle my next obstacle. But first, breakfast.

I walked to the cafeteria of the Pokémon center and bought myself an omelet, along with some food for my two new friends. I found an empty table in the room and released Bulbasaur and Pidgey. While I ate my breakfast, I found myself observing my two new Pokémon partners. Pidgey ate his food like it was some sort of race, gobbling it down so quickly I was afraid he would choke, while Bulbasaur ate his food calmly, savoring every bite before he swallowed it. They both had such different personalities, I noted, and that got me wondering what personalities other Pokémon might have. I brought out my Pokédex and looked through the list. I had seen 4 types of Pokémon, and owned 2 types. The professor said that he wanted me to travel the whole region and collect information on all types of Pokémon, but I could only carry six with me. The more I thought about it, the more it didn't really seem fair to the Pokémon I caught, to catch and keep all of them. Sure I knew about the PC box, but I didn't really like them. I knew from there, Professor Oak could care for them easily, but I really didn't think that capturing 145 Pokémon just to keep them in a PC box and never having the time to get to know them sounded fair. I looked down at Bulbasaur and Pidgey.

I loved them both dearly, even after only meeting them yesterday, and truth be told I wanted to get to know them more. I wanted to train them and battle with them, and become stronger together so we could take on the league challenge, but I also had a responsibility to the professor. He had given me Bulbasaur after all, and he needed me to fill up the Pokédex pages.

_But,_ I thought, since the Pokédex automatically records the information of a Pokémon after a catch, I didn't really have to _keep _the Pokémon I caught after I recorded the information. I could just catch and release, like a fisherman would do. Then I could do both! I could keep my promise to the professor, and be able to train the Pokémon team** I** wanted to train to challenge the league with. Okay, well that settles that!

I finished my breakfast soon after I had decided on my course of action, and recalled Bulbasaur and Pidgey after noticing that they were done too. I then strode out of the Pokémon center, and made my way north. But as I was walking along, heading towards route 2, I overheard something very familiar.

"I can't believe he beat you." Said a young girl with short brown hair. She was talking to what looked like her older brother. Maybe she was talking about a gym leader, I thought to myself. It couldn't be the one from Viridian City though because they weren't here, but maybe they were talking about the one in the next town over.

"Yeah I know. But that Charmander of his, just totally wiped out my whole team."

Wait, Charmander? I stopped suddenly. The only one I know with a Charmander is…

Oh Arceus no. Seriously? Here, now, just when I was about to leave!? But wait; surely it must be a coincidence. I mean, he's not the only guy with a Charmander on earth. Maybe it's a different trainer. He could be a totally different trainer who's a complete stranger to me.

"The worst part was that he rubbed it in. I don't think I've ever met a guy with a bigger ego than his."

Or, maybe not. I could have just walked away, but a part of me, the part that always strived to defeat my rival at every challenge he put forth, wouldn't let me.

"Excuse me!" I called out, walking up to the brother and sister. "Sorry to interrupt, but did you happen to catch that trainers name?"

"Uh, no, he didn't say." The brother said.

"Were you eavesdropping on us!?" his sister asked.

"Not on purpose, I swear. I just happened to overhear, and the guy you were talking about sounds a lot like someone I know." I tried to explain. I guess, without trying to, I did come off as rude when I just interrupted them.

"Oh I see. Is he a friend of yours?" the brother asked.

The thought of me and Gary as friends was truly comical. I might have known him since the time I was born, but we had never gotten along, and we were certainly never friends. I've never really known what it was. It's like there was always this wall of tension and competition between us. We were always picking fights with each other. We were just totally different people.

He was arrogant, confident, and he always put his own needs above everyone else's. Now I wasn't perfect, but I liked to think of myself as kind, and I always put others before myself. The two of us, just didn't mix. It was as simple as that.

"Friend? No, not really. He's more like a-"

"More like a what, Leaf?" a voice sounded right beside my ear.

I screamed and jumped at least a foot in the air. I swore my heart stopped for a good 5 seconds too. I whipped around only to lock eyes with the one person I was afraid to run in to. And then the familiar anger ignited in me at his presence.

"Gary!" I yelled, angry that he scared me.

"The one and only. Didn't expect to find you here Leafy."

"DON'T call me that!" my hands balled into fists. His taunting tone always made me mad.

"How rude. And here I thought you were the one looking for me. Miss me much?"

"Yeah, about as much as I miss the stomach flu." I shot back, his ego warring on my nerves.

"Ouch. Cold as usual. So what are you doing all the way over on Route 22?" he asked.

I looked around and realized I was on Route 22, the route on the west side of town. I had wanted to head north towards route 2, but I guess the knowledge of my rival brought me a bit off course.

"I hope you weren't on your way to the league. I mean I always knew you were naïve, but I didn't think you were as clueless to challenge the toughest trainers in the region all on your own."

"What are you going on about?"

"You mean you really don't know? Talk about a loser." He chastised.

"I am NOT a loser!" I yelled, losing my cool. It was then I noticed that the people I had been talking to had somehow slipped away during our argument.

"So you say, but I bet you don't even have a badge yet. Not that I'm surprised." He taunted.

"What about you? Do you have any gym badges yet?" I asked.

"Well I would if the gym leader in this city wasn't on vacation. But it's only a matter of time before I win one." He stated confidently.

"Tough talk for someone who's only been on their journey for ONE DAY!" I reminded him.

"One day can make a big difference." He said snidely. "And now that I've gotten in some good training, what do you say you show me how strong your Pokémon have gotten?" He said, pulling out a Pokeball.

"You're on!" I challenged, backing up so that we were further apart.

I thought this could be a good opportunity to get some training done for Pidgey, so I reached behind me and grasped his Pokeball.

"Pidgey, I choose you!" I called, throwing the metal sphere into the sky. It popped open and let out a burst of blue light, which formed into my little flying type. Pidgey flew down to sit on my shoulder.

"Nice job training your Pokémon. Does it even know it's supposed to be in a battle?" He laughed.

I ignored him and turned to Pidgey.

"Pidgey, will you battle with me please?" I asked. Pidgey nodded his head and flew down to sit on the dirt road that acted as our battle field.

"Just wait! Pidgey and I are gonna win!" I yelled.

"We'll see. Pidgey, Go!" Gary yelled.

Another Pidgey came onto the field from Gary's Pokeball. I wondered vaguely why Gary would send out the same Pokémon to fight with when he had Charmander, but I couldn't dwell on that for long.

"Pidgey, start off with tackle!" I commanded. Pidgey started to flap his wings and fly towards Gary's Pidgey on the other side of the field.

"Sand Attack." Gary's Pidgey then kicked some sand into my Pidgey's eyes, blinding him.

"Pidgey, stay calm." I ordered, but Pidgey was disoriented.

"Tackle!" Gary's Pidgey then slammed into Pidgey, knocking him back.

"Pidgey, listen for your opponent." I said. Pidgey heard me, and stopped flying, resting his feet on the ground. I knew he'd be able to hear our opponent because Gary's Pidgey was flying up in the air.

"Now! Tackle!" I commanded. My Pidgey kept his eyes closed and charged in the direction of Gary's Pokémon, knocking him out of the air.

"Sand Attack again!" Gary commanded.

"Dodge it!" I said. My Pidgey flew up and away from the ground right when the sand was flying towards him.

"Now, tackle again!" I shouted. Pidgey had gotten most of the sand out of his eyes, and could now clearly see his opponent. My Pidgey slammed into Gary's Pidgey, in what looked like a critical hit. Gary's Pidgey went down, having fainted.

"Return." Gary said. "Now the fun really starts."

I looked nervously at Pidgey. He only knew Tackle, and I didn't think that would be strong enough to beat Gary's first Pokémon.

"Go, Charmander!" he called, releasing the fire lizard from its sphere. The orange fire type looked even stronger than before at the professor's lab. I called Pidgey back into his Pokeball.

"Go Bulbasaur!" I yelled, releasing my first Pokémon too. I knew Bulbasaur had a type disadvantage, but I didn't have much of a choice.

*Flash*

Suddenly, a white light appeared in between Charmander and Bulbasaur. It disappeared as fast as it had appeared, but it left a strange creature standing in the middle of our battle.

It was gold and brown, and its eyes were shut. It had arms and legs like a human, but it also had a tail. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was asleep.

"What is that?" I asked out loud, going for my Pokédex. Its picture and name came up. It was a Pokémon called Abra. But I couldn't tell what type it was.

"Well what do you know? Looks like we've got a fan." Gary said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked in an irritated voice.

"Well obviously this Abra came here because it was impressed by my awesome battling skills." He concluded.

"Except for the fact that you lost!" I shot back. Suddenly Abra flashed again and was gone.

"Where did it go?" Gary said. We both looked around, but we couldn't see it.

"Aaaa….braaaa…." I heard. I looked up to see it floating above my head.

"H-How is it DOING that!?" I asked, jumping back.

"Well duh, it's a psychic type."

"Well excuse me for never hearing of it."

"Weren't you the one who always bragged about being the most knowledgeable?"

"Just because I paid more attention than you did when Prof. Oak was teaching us about Pokémon doesn't mean I was bragging!"

Suddenly Abra appeared behind Gary.

"Behind you!" I shouted.

Gary turned and shouted. "Charmander, Scratch!"

Charmander immediately scratched the psychic type across the face. It looked like it caused some damage before Abra disappeared again.

"How does it do that?" I asked.

"It's a move called Teleport. It's messing with us."

For a second, I saw Gary's and my shadows on the ground shift, and I knew where it was.

"Bulbasaur, use tackle!"

Bulbasaur jumped into the air at the Pokémon, but Abra teleported again before his attack could hit. Bulbasaur landed on his feet.

"How are we supposed to fight something that keeps running away?"

"You can do whatever you want, but I'm going to catch that thing." Gary remarked.

The challenging flame ignited in me. Anything Gary doubted I could do, I had to prove him wrong.

"That's what you think." I said. I watched the ground, looking at the shadows on the ground. When Abra teleported, it gave off light, which made the shadows on the ground move. If I watched the shadows, I could tell where Abra was before I saw him.

The shadows on the ground became short suddenly, which meant he was above us.

"Bulbasaur-" I started, but he was way ahead of me. Before I gave a command, Bulbasaur launched a brown seed from the bulb on his back that encircled Abra's body in stringy looking vines. Abra's body twitched as the vines glowed red on its skin, causing it pain.

"Leech Seed." I said. Bulbasaur had learned a new move. I felt so much pride for my partner in that moment.

"Charmander, Scratch!" Before I knew what was happening, Gary's Charmander had launched itself into the air and slashed the now weakened Abra.

"What are you-?"

"Go, Pokéball!" I couldn't believe what was happening. Before I could process it, Abra had been sucked inside Gary's Pokeball and went inside.

One, Two, Three, Click!

Abra was caught. Abra had been caught by Gary. GARY CAUGHT ABRA!?

I was shaking with rage. Gary had used my own Pokémon's attack to his advantage. He had come out from behind and stolen a Pokémon that should've been mine to catch!

"What's the big idea!?" I yelled.

"Thanks' Leaf. Guess your untrained pip-squeak of a Pokémon was good for something after all." Gary chuckled. Bulbasaur looked angry at that comment.

"You thief! You used my attack and then took Abra. I had that catch and you just stole it!"

"What can I say? You should've been faster."

This was war.

"In case you've forgotten, we still have a battle to finish." I spoke coldly.

"Bulbasaur, use Leech Seed on Charmander!" Bulbasaur immediately launched another seed at Charmander, restricting his movements.

"Now use Tackle!"

Bulbasaur fed off my rage and humiliation at being bested by Gary and unleashed a powerful Tackle attack. Charmander yelled as it was struck.

"Charmander, use Scratch!"

Charmander weakly tried to slash at Bulbasaur with its claw, but the Leech Seed was taking its toll.

"Bulbasaur, finish this! Use Tackle!"

Bulbasaur unleashed its attack one more time, with just as much ferocity as the first one. He came down on Charmander and smashed his tiny form into the soft ground. Charmander slumped down in front of Gary, unable to battle. Gary sneered as he recalled his fallen Pokémon.

"Guess you win. But it looks like I got the real prize." He said, holding up Abra's pokéball like a trophy. I glared a little. I really hated when he won. He always rubbed it in, and he never let anyone who lost to him live it down.

"You better not try anything like that again! We're both supposed to be filling up the Pokédex you know!" I said.

"That will be easy to do. Besides, I've got more important things to be worrying about." He said, walking past me. "I'm on a mission to earn all the gym badges in Kanto, so that someday I can reach the Indigo League and face the strongest trainers."

I gasped at that. Now Gary wasn't just my rival in filling the Pokédex, he was my rival for my new dream too. The dream I had decided on when I became a trainer. To beat all the gyms and the elite four. Battling for the championship title. I guess it made sense that I wouldn't be the only one who had that dream, but with Gary as my rival, it just made the race that much more serious. I couldn't let Gary take that dream away from me. Not now, not ever.

"I expect you to keep training too Leaf." He called from behind. "You won't be much of a rival if you're weak."

"Hey, I won our battle remember!" I called after him, but whether he heard me or not I didn't know. He just kept on walking.

So that's how it was going to be. Gary was going to be my toughest rival ever, not only for the Pokédex, but for the championship. How did it end up this way? Were we just destined to always be competing against each other for the same goal? I had never questioned before why Gary and I were so harsh towards one another, but I couldn't shake the question from my mind. As Bulbasaur came up beside me and nuzzled my leg, and we walked towards Viridian Forest, I couldn't help but wonder why we always had to make everything a contest. Why could we never get along?

_Is he a friend of yours?_ That boy had asked me, and I knew the answer right away was no. But why was that the answer?

I wondered if it would always be this way. But more than anything else, I wondered this.

Our rivalry for the championship would end like all the others did. But when it did, who would come out on top?

**A/N: Whenever I played through Leaf Green, I had no idea that Gary was waiting for you on route 22 when you went to Viridian City the second time after getting the Pokedex. But, apparently you can battle him then, so I added it to the story. I included Abra to make it a bit more interesting.**


	7. Chapter 6: Fuzzy Feelings

**A/N: Guy's, I am updating twice today. Why? Because I feel like it, and I think I've been putting off working on this story in favor of working on my other story. Sorry about that, but good news is that the re-write is almost done. I've almost finished re-writing all the chapters I've already written, and will be able to just write chapters again very soon.**

Chapter 6: Fuzzy Feelings

I was still reeling after my battle with Gary. I mean, I have always known he was a jerk, but what he did was just plain low. To take advantage of me and my Pokémon's attack like that.

I sighed. I was a little disappointed to be honest. That Abra looked like a really rare Pokémon, and getting its information would have been really helpful to filling the Pokédex. But, I couldn't let this loss get me down. Gary might have won Abra, but I had still won the battle. It hadn't been a total loss!

I also didn't want what Gary did to slow me down! This morning I had woken up with the intent to tackle Viridian forest, and that's what I was going to do.

"Bulba?" Bulbasaur sounded from below, nudging me with his head.

"I'm fine Bulbasaur. Don't worry. But if we're going to have a chance at winning any gym battles or beating Gary again, we're going to need to do some serious training!" I said.

From there we headed north, towards route 2 where I had originally planned to go this morning. Route 2 was mainly road, but it was lined with trees. There were still plenty of places for a Pokémon to jump out at us, but with Bulbasaur walking beside me it was less likely to happen.

Within ten minutes I had reached the end of Route 2, and made my way into the connecting gate between Viridian city and the forest. Once inside, I brought out my town map to see what lay ahead of me.

_Mmmm, _I thought to myself,_ apparently this forest is filled with bug type Pokémon, which isn't good news for Bulbasaur. But since Pidgey is a flying type, this will be good training for him._

I put my map away, and recalled Bulbasaur to his pokéball. I continued through to the end of the gate, and into the forest ahead.

Once in the forest, I noticed how different the atmosphere became. Unlike the grassy plains of Route 1, Viridian Forest was entirely made up of trees and tall grass. In fact there was barely any path to walk on. I reached behind me and grasped Pidgey's pokeball, calling him out.

"Pid-gey?" he questioned when he opened his eyes.

"Alright Pidgey, earlier today, you did a really good job battling against Gary. But do you remember yesterday when I said what a good battler I thought you could be with some more training?" I asked. Pidgey nodded yes.

"Well training starts now. This forest is filled with bug Pokémon, and it's gonna take us a few days to get through it. This is prime time for training. Are you with me?" I asked.

In response, Pidgey flew up to sit on my shoulder and ruffled his feathers, looking ready for a fight. I took that as a yes, and proceeded into the forest.

**A few hours later**

"Pid-gey!" Pidgey yelled as he was knocked back with a poison sting attack from an enemy Weedle. We'd been fighting against weaker bug types in an attempt to raise Pidgey's attack power, but it was proving to be difficult. The problem with Pidgey was that he only knew Tackle, and shaping a strategy around one move was almost impossible. Not to mention the fact that he kept getting poisoned. If we didn't learn a new move today, I wasn't sure how we were going to survive the rest of the week. The Weedle fired a sting shot attack, which Pidgey was able to dodge as he'd gotten a little bit better at flying, although at this point it was less like flying and more like hovering. But it was progress none the less. The Weedle fired another string shot into the air to make a net around Pidgey, figuring out our strategy pretty easily.

"Pidgey, no!" I cried out, this battle was going much better than our earlier ones were, but it looked like it might be over already.

Pidgey was struggling around in the sticky string while Weedle looked ready to fire yet another poison sting attack, when suddenly Pidgey stopped struggling. Before Weedle had a chance to release its attack, Pidgey stuck its talon into the soft dirt and then swiped it, creating a cloud of dust aimed directly at Weedle.

Weedle squealed in surprise and shut its eyes, its attack missing Pidgey by a mile. It was only once Pidgey had freed himself that I realized what had just happened.

"Pidgey, was that Sand Attack?" I asked hopefully.

"Pidgey!" Pidgey responded, obviously proud of himself.

"Awesome! This battle might not be over yet. Use Tackle now!"

Pidgey rammed itself into Weedle, who was totally blind to the coming attack. Weedle laid down on the ground, fainted.

"Looks like some of our training paid off after all!" I said proudly. But still, one stat reduction move wasn't enough. We had a whole week to train in this twisted forest, and we were going to make the most of it.

Pidgey and I battled a little bit more with different kinds of poison and bug type Pokémon until it got dark out. And after the long day we'd had of training, I think me and my team deserved a break. That night we ate the food I had packed before leaving and set ourselves up a little campsite. We built a fire and set out my green sleeping bag, and just stargazed until we could barely keep our eyes open anymore.

"Okay guys, time for bed." I announced, already having changed into my green pajama bottoms and white tank top for sleeping in. I recalled Bulbasaur, who looked like he had already fallen asleep, but I had more trouble recalling Pidgey.

"What's wrong Pidgey; don't you want to go to sleep?" I asked, confused as to why he was fighting me on this.

"Pidge-Pidg-ey!" he exclaimed, before he hovered over to my green sleeping bag and set himself down on top of it.

"You want to sleep with me tonight?" I asked, a little flattered by the idea.

"Pidgey," he nodded his head yes.

I was too tired to argue, and in all honesty, I didn't mind that much. I crawled into my sleeping bag, having Pidgey crawl in after me and nestle himself in my long, light brown hair. I smiled at the curtness of the scene, before exhaustion took over me, and I feel asleep beside my first caught Pokémon.

* * *

The next morning I woke up to a fluttering feeling against my face. Pidgey was flapping his wings up against my head, trying to wake me up. I opened my eyes and sat up abruptly, sending Pidgey flying. I rubbed my eyes sleepily.

"Pidgey, what is it?" I asked, still a little tired. Pidgey flapped his wings frantically and pointed towards my face. It was then after I woke up a little bit more that I noticed my head felt oddly heavier than normal. I reached up with my hand to touch the top of my hand and felt something…fuzzy? Now, Red had teased me from the time we were kids about my massively bad bed-head in the mornings, but whatever I was feeling on top of my head was **definitely not** hair.

"Pidgey. Tackle." I managed to squeak out.

Pidgey complied immediately, and jumped up to tackle the creature off of my head, careful not to hit me in the process. Whatever it was fell of my head along with Pidgey and bounced a few feet away. I unzipped myself from inside my sleeping bag and stood up, turning to look at the creature that had put an end to my peaceful slumber.

When the dust cleared from Pidgey's attack, I made out a little green lump sprawled out on the forest floor. It looked like a little worm, with big round eyes and a pink antenna on its head. It looked dizzy, being knocked off of my head so suddenly. I went down into my bag and brought out my Pokédex and scanned the creature.

It told me its name was Caterpie, and it was obviously a bug type. It looked around with its big black eyes, eventually landing on me and Pidgey. Seeing a trainer and a Pokémon, it immediately went into battle mode, and shot out a string shot directed at Pidgey.

"Pidgey dodge!" I yelled, just in time for him to obey.

"Now use sand-attack!" I commanded, blinding Caterpie from hitting Pidgey again. Yet someone, Caterpie was able to use tackle and hit Pidgey straight on.

"Caterpie's a strong one. Pidgey, fly above Caterpie and then use Tackle!" I yelled. Pidgey did just that, but Caterpie recovered from Sand-Attack fast, and used String Shot again, but used it as a lasso to tie up Pidgey's wings and pull him back down to the ground.

"Wow! This one's a fighter!" I was getting excited. I had battled a bunch of bug Pokémon yesterday, but none of them fought like this. I decided then and there that I wanted to catch this Caterpie.

"Pidgey, try and get free." I commanded. Pidgey snapped the sticky string on its wings and flew back a few feet.

"Now use tackle, straight on!"

Pidgey flew straight, the straightest I've ever seen him fly, and slammed his body straight into Caterpie's. I noticed that instead of fluttering like Pidgey was doing yesterday, he was keeping himself in the air without any difficulty. It gave me an idea about how to end this battle, and make Pidgey a better battler.

"Pidgey," I yelled, "Flap your wings as hard as you can and stir up some wind!"

Pidgey looked confused at my request, by complied with my orders. He flapped his wings as hard and fast as he could, and slowly, the wind started to pick up. Caterpie was having a hard time keeping itself on the ground because the wind was becoming so strong.

_C'mon! _I thought. _Just a little bit more, and this move could work._

Suddenly, Caterpie could no longer hold its grip on the ground, and was lifted up into the air by the current of the wind. The wind sent Caterpie sailing through the air, until its body limply bounced off against a nearby tree-trunk.

"Okay!" I said, digging through my bag to find an empty Pokeball. My fingers found the metal sphere and fished it out. I stood up again, and threw it towards Caterpie.

"Go pokéball!" I shouted as the red and white capsule soared through the air.

It bounced off of Caterpie's body and sucked it inside with a red light. The capsule hit the ground and started to shake.

Once, Twice, Three times. Click.

I went over and picked up the Pokeball, having Pidgey fly up to sit on my shoulder.

"Thank you Pidgey." I sad, nuzzling my face against his soft feathers. "For protecting me, and for helping me catch a new friend. Not to mention, I think you just learned Gust. You really are a good battler!" I praised.

I went over to my bag and decided it was time to get ready, seeing as I was still in my pajamas. I brushed my hair and put on a fresh pair of clothes. Then I thought it was a good time to release all my Pokémon and make a new training plan for the rest of the week.

Bulbasaur came out with a yawn and a smile, while Pidgey settled down on the ground beside him, I grabbed my new addition and released it to.

Caterpie came out of the capsule with a happy cry before looking to my other Pokémon to greet them. Bulbasaur investigated it curiously and Pidgey welcomed it with a happy crow. I pulled out my Pokédex and looked at the new recorded information.

_Caterpie, the worm Pokémon. It's short feet are tipped with suction pads that enable it to climb slopes and walls. When it evolves, it covers itself in silk, and becomes a cocoon._

It also told me that my specific Caterpie happened to be a girl. _Well, it's nice not to be the only one in the family anymore!_

I crouched down to my knees in front of Caterpie and smiled. "Welcome to the team, Caterpie."

"Piiie!" she cooed.

She then wiggled her way up to me, and started to climb up my arm. Her fuzzy little feet tickled as she made her way up to sit on my right shoulder, while Pidgey flew up to sit on my left. Bulbasaur put his front legs up on my knees to smile at me like he did on the first day we met. I smiled at my new family, happy to know that it just grew a little bit bigger.

* * *

**A week later**

"Tackle!"

The trainer's Kakuna went down, black swirls replacing its normal looking eyes.

Bulbasaur came back over to my side of the field, holding his head up proudly as he won his third straight victory. We'd been training and making our way through the maze that was Viridian Forest for seven days now, and were almost out of the woods, literally.

I'd also applied my catch and release method to filling up the Pokédex. So far I'd recorded the information of 4 more Pokémon besides the ones I owned. I was quickly beginning to fill up the pages of the digital encyclopedia.

And besides wild creatures, Viridian Forest was filled with bug-catching trainers, all of which I'd been able to win against. My Pokémon weren't just getting stronger; they were getting a ton of battle experience. Pidgey's Gust attack was now his strongest move!

_And now_, I thought as I walked through the end of the forest, _we were almost to Pewter city._ I was happy to finally be able to sleep in a real bed again, not that I didn't like camping. I just wasn't too fond of waking up with lonely bug Pokémon nested in my hair, although luckily for me that didn't happen more than once. Apparently, Caterpie was just cold that night, and a little jealous of the special treatment I was giving Pidgey. But for now, Bulbasaur was getting some exercise.

We walked through the last patch of tall grass before coming out on the soft undergrowth of the forest floor. From there, although there were still a few trees in the way, I could almost make out some kind of structure.

"I think that's the connecting gate! Bulbasaur, we're almost there!" I said as I walked forward. I had tried to run in these shoes already to no avail. They hurt my feet whenever I tried to move faster. For now, walking would have to do. I passed through the trees, so focused on getting to the gate that I regretted to notice the very soft buzzing that was coming from directly above me.

One moment I was walking upright, and the next I was on the ground, Bulbasaur having tackled me from behind out of the way of an angry Beedrill. I turned over on my back to see the aggravated wasp Pokémon buzzing angrily at my Bulbasaur, who had situated himself between me and the danger. But Beedrill wasn't looking for a battle, he was just plain angry.

Beedrill launched a poison sting, trying to get Bulbasaur away from his real target.

"Bulbasaur use Leech Seed!"

Bulbasaur launched a single brown seed from the bulb on his back, which landed on one of Beedrill's stingers and started to grow, encircling our foe with vines that proceeded to suck his health away bit by bit, while feeding it to Bulbasaur. That only made him angrier.

Beedrill fired a String Shot at Bulbasaur, but it missed and hit my foot, sticking it to the ground. While I struggled to free myself, I still had to keep my mind on the battle.

"Bulbasaur, Tackle!"

Bulbasaur jumped into the air to tackle the opponent out of the sky, but Beedrill dodged low, sending Bulbasaur flying straight over it to land on the other side. And now, there was no one standing in Beedrill's way.

Beedrill's twin stingers began to glow white, a sign that it was readying its Twin Needle Attack. I was afraid. Even if I could free my foot from the sticky sting, I wouldn't make it out in time to dodge the attack. As it charged towards me, I threw up my arms to shield my face and hoped that it would be over quickly.

But the attack never came.

I got brave enough to open my eyes and saw that Beedrill was being held back by a rope.

_No, not a rope, _I noticed as I looked closer. _A vine._

Bulbasaur had sprouted two vines from its back and was using them to hold the Beedrill back.

"Vine Wipe. Bulbasaur, you learned Vine Whip to protect me."

"Bulba-SAUR!" Bulbasaur yelled as he pulled hard on the vines, sending Beedrill flying in the opposite direction. When Beedrill didn't re-emerge from the thicket, we assumed that it had fainted. I was able to wiggle my foot free from its hold and walked over to my first partner.

"Bulbasaur, thank you so much! If it wasn't for you, I don't know what would have happened."

Bulbasaur retracted his vines and looked up at me with relief, obviously glad that I had not been hurt.

"But why was Beedrill so angry?" I wondered out loud. I looked around the area, trying to discern what could have made the creature so mad, when I looked up in the trees. Hanging from the branches I saw 5 Kakuna, no doubt waiting to evolve.

"Well that makes sense. Guess I need to be more careful about where I step huh?" I asked Bulbasaur.

"But still, these Kakuna could be a real problem for the other people traveling through the forest. Hopefully they won't be here for much longer." I concluded.

I wish there was something I could do to fix it, but there really wasn't. Right outside the connecting gate was probably the worst place to set up their nest, but this was the place they had picked. It's not like I could move them. All anyone could do was wait for them to evolve and hope that they left. But I had more important things to think about at the moment. I swept Bulbasaur up from the ground and held him up in the air.

"Oh Bulbasaur! You not only saved my life you learned a brand new move!" I celebrated, ecstatic with the news.

"Now no one can stop us from taking on that gym leader! And we're gonna win, right?"

"Bulba!" he said, which I knew was Poké-speak for "YEAH!"

And so our training week came to an end. Not only had I caught a new friend and taught my Pokémon some new moves, we had also all grown closer. And in my eyes that was a victory in itself. As we entered the connecting gate that would lead us to the next city, I knew that whatever challenge was coming to us when we faced the gym, my team could handle it. And we would handle it together.

**A/N: I know Caterpie isn't a very strong evolutionary group, but I feel like everyone catches one at some point in their lives. And I love Butterfree, I always end up using her as my psychic type.**


	8. Chapter 7: Stone Cold

**A/N: Hey guys. I have news that could either be perceived as good or bad. I'm going on a trip for 5 months, and I leave at the end of August. As a result of this, I am only updating on Mondays. I plan to keep writing when on my trip though, don't worry!**

Chapter 7: Stone Cold

I arrived in Pewter city in the afternoon, and I had to say it was much bigger than Viridian. Also the landscape was increasingly different from that of the last city, but that might have had to do with the environment.

Where Viridian was close to a forest, Pewter was situated right beside a mountain, according to the map. The streets of the city were all cobblestone, and instead of grassy plains surrounding it, it was surrounded by cliffs of stone. It gave the city a colder feeling, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Rock was tough, and this stone city definitely gave off an aura of strength.

The first thing I did was check into the Pokémon center. I handed my three Pokémon to Nurse Joy, and then went to check out my room.

_Aahh, civilization. With running water and everything,_ I thought happily.

The first thing I did was take a nice, hot shower. Being in the wilderness for a week had built up some grim on my skin that just couldn't be washed off by ordinary river water. After my shower I brushed my teeth and hair before getting dressed again in some clean clothes. I re-entered the bedroom part of my room and flopped down on the soft bed. It reminded me of the one I had back in Pallet Town. It was then that my thoughts traveled back to home.

_I wonder how mom and Red are doing. _I thought. I missed them a lot, but I also really loved traveling. For the first time ever I had gotten a taste of what freedom felt like. And I loved it. Despite missing my family, I was happy to finally be able to find myself. But at the same time, it made me feel guilty to be enjoying myself so much. Maybe I should give Mom and Red a call later, just to check in.

I got off the bed and made my way back down to the lobby, eager to start exploring the city. I retrieved my Pokémon from Nurse Joy, now completely healed, and set out.

All of the buildings in Pewter were constructed out of stone bricks, keeping in the Rock theme the city had going. Eventually after exploring for an hour, I started to become hungry and decided to stop for lunch.

I found a little bistro and ordered myself a sandwich. The good thing about being a trainer was that you got money when you won, and I happened to be doing a whole lot of winning, so stuff like food and supplies was no problem. But I wasn't going to get over-confident. That would only lead me to fail.

I was minding my own business, eating my sandwich by myself at a loan table, when I was approached by someone.

"Hey you!" he shouted at me, causing me to look up at him. He looked like he was in his late 20's, brown hair, blue eyes, glasses and he was wearing some kind of uniform.

"Yes?" I questioned.

"Tell me Miss, have you been to the Pewter city Museum yet?" he asked.

"Um….no." I responded.

To tell the truth I wasn't _that _fond of museums. It wasn't that I didn't find history interesting, because I did. It was just that at museums, they always had the remains and skeletons of ancient Pokémon stuck behind glass cases, put on display like trophies. That was the part I didn't like. Every time I looked at a skeleton that used to be a Pokémon, I always felt sad, knowing that it was once alive and now it wasn't. It reminded me of my father, and how he was no longer here with me.

"Then you need to visit! It's amazing! It's filled with fossils and ancient stones, just filled with stories about the past! I know because I work there. You'll come of course won't you?" he asked with eyes so pleading.

I really didn't feel like going, because I knew it was only going to bring me down. But the way he was looking at me just made it impossible to refuse.

"Sure." I said, hopefully satisfying him.

"Wonderful, I'll show you where it is myself!" he offered, obviously not willing to take 'no' for an answer, I let him help me up, taking my half-eaten sandwich with me. I let him lead me to the building, and continued to eat as we walked. By the time we got there I had finished eating.

"And here we are! The super-amazing-spectacular Science Museum of WONDER!" he announced. This guy was WAY too excited about history, I though as we walked through the doors.

"By the way, what's your name miss?" he asked, realizing that we had yet to introduce ourselves.

"I'm Leaf."

"Well it's very nice to meet you Leaf. My name is Dr. Thomas, and I'm a scientist that works in partner with this museum." He informed me.

"Now since you were nice enough to accompany me to this place, I'd say it's the least I could do to give you a tour." He decided, not even asking me if it was okay.

"Come now, this way!" he said, leading me through the exhibits. The first one he brought me too was exactly what I had feared in coming here.

"This," he said, "is a skeleton of the ancient Pokémon Kabutops. It's speculated to be a rock type Pokémon." I cringed physically at the sight of the skeleton. It's hollow eyes sockets were just so cold and empty, the whole thing filled me with dread.

"And over here is an Aerodactyl fossil. It was said to be an incredibly rare and primitive Pokémon in its time." I stared at the bones protruding from the skeletons shoulders, imagining that that was where the wings must have been when it was alive.

_Why me?_ I asked myself. _There were plenty of other people around in that bistro, so why did he have to go and pick me?_

"Um, sir? " I said, gaining his attention. "No offense, but I really don't like this kind of thing." I responded honestly. "Looking at the remains of old Pokémon, it just makes me feel sad."

"Sad? But whatever for? You know if we don't learn from the past, we'll be doomed the repeat it." He argued. _Who did this guy think he was? He barely knew me and now he was lecturing me?_

"I don't mean to be disrespectful sir; I just don't like looking at this sort of thing. It makes me think that, someday maybe that's all that will be left of my Pokémon too…" I trailed off.

_And all that will be left of me,_ I thought to myself but didn't say out loud.

He looked at me with understanding then, realizing that although I was a trainer, I was still just a kid too.

"Come with me." He said, as he made his way up the stairs to the second floor of the science museum. I followed, although I really wasn't sure why.

We made our way to the second floor of the museum, and up to yet another glass case. I just looked down at the floor, afraid that what I was about to see was another dead Pokémon fossil.

"Look at this Leaf." he said to me. Reluctantly I looked up, and I was confused as to what I was looking at.

It was a black stone set on a white pedestal. It was a little chipped around the edges, like it had been dug out of somewhere, but it was a rather pretty stone. It was a deep onyx in colour, but it also sparkled in the light, like little crystals were embedded in it.

"This is called a Moon Stone." Dr. Thomas explained. "It was found in the mountain beside our town. We decided to name it after the mountain it was found in, Mt. Moon. It's said to help certain Pokémon evolve."

"It helps them evolve? How so?" I asked, intrigued as to how a stone could affect a Pokémon.

"The Pokémon in this world are very mysterious creatures. Although they seem to be everywhere, some are as different from each other as night and day, and there are still several things that we do not understand about them. Although it is true that some Pokémon evolve by gaining experience in battles with other Pokémon, there are documented cases where certain conditions need to be met before a Pokémon can evolve. And then there are some Pokémon that don't evolve at all. It's quite fascinating."

"You see Leaf; history doesn't just have to be about knowing what used to be here and now no longer is. Things like this stone, which was sitting inside of our Mt. Moon for decades before it was found, can help us to understand the things in the present. If we can learn from the past, we can better understand the past, the present, and the future too. Do you understand?"

I thought about his words. Professor Oak had entrusted me to find out about all of the Pokémon in this region, including their evolved forms. And if I hadn't come here today, I may never have found out about Evolutionary stones. I guess even though the fossils still made me sad, learning about the past could help me achieve my goals for the future.

"I think I do. Thank you Dr. Thomas." I said, genuinely smiling at him for the first time that day.

"You know Leaf, I know you don't like fossils that much, but I've heard rumors about a group of scientists, that are developing a way to resurrect fossils from the DNA still encoded in them."

"Really? Is that even possible?"

"I'm not even sure myself. But just imagine if they succeeded. All of those fossils that you saw downstairs wouldn't have to be kept behind glass cases anymore. Why, they could be as alive as you and me!" he exclaimed.

The knowledge of that made me a little awestruck. I had never liked fossils before, but if they could be brought back to life then maybe, just maybe, I could learn to tolerate them a little bit more.

"Thank you for the tour Dr. Thomas, but I really need to get going." I said.

"Aahh I see. Well, thank you for visiting Leaf. I hope you learned something useful today!"

As I made my way towards the stairs, I stopped as something occurred to me.

"Dr. Thomas?" I asked. He turned back around to face me.

"Why did you pick me? To bring to the museum I mean. You could have asked anyone to come with you today but you asked me. Why?"

All he did was smile as he thought to himself.

"Who knows really?" He answered, as he took of his glasses to clean them. "You just seemed like you needed something to do."

I smiled and raised my eyebrow, but I let it go as I exited the museum. It was an interesting day, and in the end I did learn something important. Maybe museums weren't so bad after all.

I walked around town a little more after that, just getting myself lost really, when someone stopped me as I was about to leave the city limits to explore some more.

"Hey you!" some kid called out to me. He was wearing a yellow shirt and green shorts, and he had brown eyes and hair to match.

"Yeah?" I asked. What was it with people calling out to me today?

"Are you a trainer?" he asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"Because Brock sent me out to look for some new challengers. You look pretty strong, why don't you challenge the gym?"

_Now we're talking! _I thought._ Finally a real life gym battle!_

"You know where the gym is!?" I asked excitedly. I wanted to battle so badly!

"Yup! In fact I work there. Just follow me!" he said as he went off.

We walked across town, past the museum again, until we located a familiar brown-roofed building. _It looks just like the one in Viridian City, _I thought, remembering how it looked. Although there were some differences. Where Viridian had looked run-down and abandoned, Pewter Gym looked well taken care of. The windows were all washed, the lights were all on, and it had some sort of rock-garden out front, decorating the front entrance. I looked at the sign in front of the gym.

**Pewter City Pokémon Gym**

**Leader: Brock**

**The Rock-Solid Pokémon Trainer!**

It read. I wondered what it meant by Rock-Solid? Was that some sort of pun based on the fact that the city was surrounded by rock?

"Well, here it is. If you're as tough as you look, then you'll take on Brock." The kid said.

"Hey, um, what does the 'Rock-Solid' mean on the sign?" I asked.

"You don't know? Gym leaders are all type based specialty trainers. Brock is a rock type trainer, therefore the 'Rock-Solid' on the sign."

"So he only battles with Rock types?" I asked.

"Yup, that's why gym leaders are so prestigious. They're the strongest trainers in the whole region, even after limiting themselves to only one type of Pokémon. Good luck in there." He said as he went in a head of me.

I stood outside for a while, trying to come up with a strategy. Brock was going to use Rock type Pokémon, but only 1 out of 3 of the Pokémon I had with me were good against Rock types. And not only that were Pidgey and Caterpie not strong against rock types, they were weak to them. The only one with a chance of beating any of his guys was Bulbasaur.

_But,_ I thought to myself, _Bulbasaur was the strongest out of all of my Pokémon, so it wasn't like I was going in with no chance at winning._

_Alright, _I decided, _Bulbasaur would have to be good enough._

I walked in through the doors of the gym, ready to meet my fate.

Inside, there was a rock type field set up. It was jagged and uneven, stone cliffs jetting out in all random places. Perfect for rock types to battle on. There were rows of lights suspended from the ceiling, casting shadows on everything in the room. On the far side of the room sat a tan-skinned man with spiky brown hair. He wore green pants and a brown and orange shirt. He was the gym leader.

"So, you're finally here." He said, as if he was expecting me.

I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. He must've known why I was there.

"I'm Brock, the gym leader. Who are you?"

"Um, I'm Leaf, from Pallet town?" It came out as more or a question. I wasn't sure what was supposed to be saying, as I'd never done this kind of thing before.

"You sure about that?" Brock asked, noticing my tone.

"Y-yes. Yes, I'm sure." I responded.

"So, I assume you're here for a gym battle right?"

"Yeah, I mean, if you don't mind."

"Not at all. Although I am surprised that you came, even after learning who I am."

"Why's that?" I asked curiously.

"Well I am the Rock-Solid trainer. I mean, even knowing you'd lose you still came to test your strength against mine. I kind of respect that."

_He sure is confident, _I thought. But he was a gym leader after all. I'm sure he had more than enough skill to back it up. Even if Brock only did look about 2 or 3 years older than me.

"Well, do you wanna battle?" I asked.

"Are you making an official challenge?"

"I guess I am." I said proudly.

"Then, challenge accepted!" he said, jumping down from the platform he was sitting on and onto the rocky battle field.

"Geodude, come out!" he called as he threw his pokeball into the air. Out popped a round, floating Pokémon with two eyes, a mouth and two arms. It looked like a talking boulder, and it definitely looked like a rock-type.

I stepped into the opposition box on the opposite side of the battle field. I grasped Bulbasaur's pokéball and detached it from my belt.

"Go Bulbasaur!" I called as I threw the metal sphere. The familiar light escaped the ball as Bulbasaur materialized on the field. I was a little worried about how many Pokémon he'd have to fight on his own, but I knew somehow we'd be able to push through.

"This will be a two on two battle." Brock announced from the other side of the gym.

"Alright!" I agreed. At least Bulbasaur wouldn't have to battle too many opponents.

"Use Tackle!" I commanded. I wanted to test the power of a normal type attack against a rock type.

"Defense Curl!" Brock commanded. Geodude immediately rolled himself into a tiny ball, which Bulbasaur bounced off of like a coin flicked at a brick wall.

"Now use tackle!" he followed up quickly. Geodude unrolled himself and started towards Bulbasaur.

"Jump up!" I ordered. Bulbasaur jumped up, dodging the attack, and landed on Geodude's head.

"Now, Vine Whip!"

Bulbasaur extended the vines from his back and wrapped them around Geodude's arms, pinning them to his sides.

"Geodude, drop!" Geodude then stopped floating and hit the ground, causing Bulbasaur to lose his balance and fall off his head, Vines still attached to Geodude's arms.

"Now throw Bulbasaur!" Brock said. Geodude took hold of Bulbasaur's vines and started to swing Bulbasaur in a circle. He let go, sending Bulbasaur flying.

"Bulbasaur, use your vines to break your fall!"

Bulbasaur then expanded his vines to hit the ground before his body did, suspending him in mid-air as his vines held him up. He then lowered himself to the ground.

"Now Vine Whip again!"

Bulbasaur then used his vines to strike Geodude hard across the face, causing him to fly backwards.

"Geodude, use tackle!" Brock yelled.

"Catch it with Vine Whip!" I called, and Bulbasaur acted. Bulbasaur stopped Geodude's oncoming attack with his vines, and then whipped him again so hard, that Geodude went back and landed on the ground. He didn't rise again.

Brock called Geodude back and looked impressed. "Not many trainers can get past my first Pokémon so easily, but it looks like I'll need to bring out my trump card. Go Onix!"

This time, from the pokéball that opened, a much larger, much scarier Pokémon appeared. The creature looked entirely made up of boulders, and it was shaped like a humongous snake! It had big white eyes, and must have stood at least 30 feet tall. I looked down at my little Bulbasaur, and became very afraid for him.

"Onix, use Rock Tomb!" Brock called. Suddenly huge boulders were thrown towards our side of the field, surrounding Bulbasaur and burying him in a pile of rock.

"Bulbasaur!" I screamed, worried for my little grass type partner. But as bad as the attack looked, Bulbasaur emerged from the pile of stone, only slightly scathed. I breathed a sigh of relief. We were going to need a really good strategy to take down this behemoth.

"Tackle!" Brock ordered quickly. The rock snake suddenly charged Bulbasaur, with the speed of a bolt of lightning. I had to think fast.

"Bulbasaur, Leech Seed!" Bulbasaur fired a brown seed that surrounded the rock snake in vines in seconds. Soon, Onix was writhing in pain as his health was being transferred to Bulbasaur.

"Use Bind Onix!"

Onix then, fighting through the pain of the Leech Seed, surrounded Bulbasaur with his huge body and squeezed. Bulbasaur was being squished, despite the health being restored.

"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip to fight your way out!" Bulbasaur then released his vines again, and proceeded to push against the surrounding body of the rock snake Pokémon. Eventually, Bulbasaur broke free of Onix' bind and returned to my side of the field, having his health restored bit by bit.

"Vine Whip again!" I ordered. Bulbasaur then went to strike Onix with his vines.

"Use Harden!" Brock yelled. Onix then developed a shine on his body, which although didn't fully protect him from the grass type attack, it severally lowered the amount of damage it did.

If I was going to beat Onix, I needed time. Leech Seed was already doing its job; I just needed Bulbasaur to survive long enough for Onix to burn itself out. But Brock knew this, and would no doubt try to knock out Bulbasaur before Leech Seed took Onix out. But I couldn't let that happen. Both Pidgey and Caterpie would get creamed by Onix in one move, no matter which one of them I used.

"Onix use tackle!" Brock ordered. Onix charged at Bulbasaur again, but then I got an idea.

"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip on the ground!" I called. Bulbasaur didn't even question my orders. He extended his vines and then hit the ground hard. The vines acted like a spring and lifted him up above Onix's attack. It was similar to the technique I had used before on Geodude, but I knew that Bulbasaur couldn't have jumped high enough to land on Onix without a little extra help. Bulbasaur landed on top of Onix head.

"Onix, shake it off!"

"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip and hang on tight!"

Onix shook his head with a massive amount of force, but Bulbasaur had used Vine Whip and wrapped it around the rock protruding from Onix' head. Onix moved around the field, trying desperately to dislodge Bulbasaur from atop his skull, but to no avail.

"Onix, jump up!" Onix lifted himself up off the ground, all 462 lbs. and slammed down hard on the battle field. The amount of force caused Bulbasaur to lose his grip. Onix then shook his head hard, which sent Bulbasaur flying. Bulbasaur fell to the ground.

"Bulbasaur, you okay?" I asked. Shakily, Bulbasaur got to his feet.

Brock smiled, knowing that Bulbasaur had been weakened from that fall, but what he didn't know was that I had already won.

Suddenly, Onix shrieked with pain as the Leech Seed zapped his final strains of energy. Onix' huge body then went crashing towards the ground, all of his health gone.

He had fainted.

A smile lit my face as I realized what this meant.

"We won." I said. "We WON!"

I ran up to Bulbasaur and hugged him hard. We had done it. We had beaten the odds and won against Brock's **two **Pokémon all on our own! Brock looked stunned to say the least. He walked up to me, now smiling.

"I took you for granted, and so I lost. Our battle taught me a lot, thank you."

He offered me his hand, which I took. I stood before him with Bulbasaur still in my arms.

"As proof of your victory, I confer to you this." He said as he extended his closed hand. He then opened it to reveal a grey, jewel shaped stone.

"This is the official badge for this gym. It's called the Boulder Badge. Take it to show that you beat me."

I reached out with my right hand and grasped the badge between my pointer finger and my thumb. I looked at it in wonder. This was proof, that I had beaten the Pewter City Pokémon gym. I showed it to Bulbasaur, the evidence of our victory.

"I would also like you to have this." He held out a CD shaped object. I took it with the same hand I held my new badge in.

"It's a TM called Rock Tomb. It will let you teach the move Rock Tomb to a Pokémon. Use it well." Brock concluded.

I smiled at Brock and bowed in respect. "Thank you for a great battle, Gym Leader Brock."

I walked away after that, Bulbasaur, Badge and TM in my arms. Tomorrow I would make other plans, tomorrow I would train some more and maybe even tackle Mt. Moon, but today I would celebrate. After all, it's not every day you win your first badge. But I knew in that moment, walking out of that gym, that this badge wouldn't be the last one I would ever win.

**A/N: And there's chapter 7. Now, I have one more chapter to re-write before I am totally caught up with what I originally wrote, which means that after next chapter I'll be writing totally new chapters. Thank you to everyone who stuck with the story through the re-write, we will be moving on soon to newer chapters!**


	9. Chapter 8: Wanderer

**A/N: I wrote this chapter when I wrote the original draft of this story, but I never posted it. So, it will be totally new to everyone reading this story! Hope you enjoy it!**

Chapter 8: Wanderer

"Mmmmmm…." I moaned as I took another bite of my breakfast.

Light, fluffy pancakes smothered in maple syrup. I didn't usually treat myself to such a sugary breakfast, but I **had** just won my first ever gym battle yesterday, so I figured I deserved a little luxury. While I enjoyed my meal, my Pokémon were doing the same.

Bulbasaur, Pidgey and Caterpie were all enjoying their type specific Pokémon Food. Since catching Caterpie, I noticed that she had a sort of needy nature. She really didn't like to be left alone, so she was always looking to spend time with either me or the other Pokémon. It was rather endearing actually.

Yesterday I had called home for the first time. My family was thrilled to hear from me. I introduced them to Pidgey and Caterpie over the video phone, and Red got even more jealous than he was the day I got Bulbasaur. But apparently Red has been working really hard with Professor Oak, and that made me happy. Mom told me that Dad would be proud of me. I got a little teary when she said that. We talked about a bunch of random stuff until I hung up for the night.

The morning was quiet and peaceful at first, but it didn't last long. One moment, the Pokémon center was pretty much empty aside from me and maybe four other trainers, and the next, a large group of people came crashing through the doors and collapsed on the lobby floor. They all wore big-brimmed hats and looked positively singed. They were all covered with black marks, and looked like they had been electrocuted. I got up from my table and walked a little closer to them, only to realize that I knew these trainers. I walked over to them, still lying on the ground.

"Hey guys!" I greeted.

Weakly, they all raised their heads to look at me.

"Leaf!" They recognized me. They struggled to their feet to stand in front of me.

"What happened to you guys?" I asked as I got a closer look at them.

Their Butterfree nets were ripped beyond repair, and they looked very roughed up. I remembered this group of friends from Viridian Forest. They were all bug catchers, and they had been adamant about battling me when I ran into them one by one. I remember having beaten all of them, but none of them had taken it personally. In fact we had all become rather good friends. Seeing them all hurt like this caused me to worry.

"Oh Leaf, you don't even WANT to know. It was awful!" The first one, Rick exclaimed.

"We were all attacked by this one wild Pokémon. It was unbelievably strong." The next one, Doug, explained further.

"Wait, only one Pokémon? Did _this_ to all of you!?" I asked incredulously. _How could one Pokémon do this to six trainers?_

"Yeah, just the one. It was on a rampage!" Charlie said.

"I don't think so," Sammy interrupted, "It was more like it was in pain. Maybe it was hurt."

"But we didn't do it!" Anthony exclaimed. "Honest! We didn't try and battle it!"

"But it still attacked us anyway," the last one, Ian explained. "It could cause a lot more people problems than just us if it isn't stopped."

"What kind of Pokémon was it?" I asked.

"Electric type." They all responded at the same time. Well that explained the singe marks.

"Okay, got it. Hey guys!" I called my Pokémon over. Bulbasaur walked while Caterpie rode on Pidgey's back as he flew.

"Slight change of plans. We're going to head back to Viridian forest." I told them. They all nodded in understanding.

"WHAT!?" the bug catchers yelled.

"What do mean what? Someone has to stop this Pokémon, and you just said that you guys thought it would continue to hurt people unless someone took him down."

"B-but Leaf, we didn't mean **you**!"

"It's too dangerous!"

"It isn't safe!"

"You can't go all alone."

"YOU'LL NEVER RETURN!"

**"Stop."** I said with a tone of finality in my voice. They all immediately shut up.

"Need I remind you that I beat all of you in battle? And not only that, but now I have this." I said as I pulled out a blue case from my bag and opened it, showing off my new gym badge.

"WOW!" They all shouted as they gathered around my new blue badge case.

"No way! You beat a gym leader!" Anthony said.

"We knew you were strong, but we had no idea you were THAT strong!"

"If you've got that, then you might be able to win against that wild Pokémon."

From there they all started to talk over each other again. I recalled all my Pokémon and threw out what was left of my breakfast, having gotten cold during my conversation with the singed bug catchers.

I bid my farewell to the catchers and exited the Pokémon center. I had everything I needed, my bag, my hat, and I was about to head towards the forest when I felt a sharp pain in my foot. I bent down and pulled off my shoe to see that the sole was completely worn through. A piece of plastic had broken off the inside of my shoe and was now in the perfect place to jab into the arch of my foot.

"This is a problem." I said out loud.

I had been doing an awful lot of walking ever since I started my journey, and these shoes really weren't made for excessive traveling. Looks like I'd have to buy a new pair before I headed off to Viridian Forest.

"Hello Leaf." Someone said from above me, startling me out of my thoughts.

I looked up to see a scientist looking man with black hair and glasses. He was wearing a lab coat and looked awfully familiar. And then it hit me.

"Dr. John?" I asked.

I had known him almost as long as I'd known Professor Oak. He worked at the lab as Professor Oak's Aide.

"I'm glad that I caught up to you. You've gotten pretty far within the few weeks since you left." He commented as he pulled me up to stand.

"Thanks Dr. John. But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Pallet town?"

"I'm here actually because the professor asked me to deliver this to you. Here you go!" he said as he handed me a white box.

"Now I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid I have to be going. I'm needed back at the lab. It was nice seeing you again Leaf!" he called as he started to walk away.

"Oh, hey, wait a second!" I called after him, struggling to catch up in my broken sneakers.

"D-Did you walk through Viridian Forest to get here?" I asked, remembering the dangerous Pokémon.

"Yes, why do ask?"

"It's just, I heard about a really dangerous Pokémon that attacked some of my friends in Viridian Forest. Didn't you see it?" I asked.

"Um no, can't say I did. I made it through Viridian Forest rather safely. Are you sure your friends are right?" the professor's Aide asked.

"Trust me, the last time I saw them they had been fried, extra crispy style. If you insist on going on ahead though, will you make sure to be extra careful?"

"Same old Leaf. Always trying to protect everyone. I promise I'll be careful." He smiled before he walked off.

I watched him walk away with a sense foreboding lingering in my mind, but I pushed it away. He was an adult; he could take care of himself. Then I remembered the package he had given me. Down in my arms was a white rectangular box with a lid on it. Curiosity taking over, I lifted the lid to see what was inside. I instantly smiled.

Inside was a pair of red and white running shoes, brand new from the looks of it. They had white laces and looked a little bit like the shoes I was wearing, except they were built for running in. Inside the box was a folded piece of paper. I unfolded it and read the message.

_Dear Leaf: _

_ I went to get you these on the day you left for your journey, but I arrived back too late to give them to you. Professor Oak said that it would be no problem for his Aide to deliver them for me though. I knew that the shoes you left in would eventually give out since they are pretty old. So I hope you enjoy these ones! For my beloved champion, know that I'll always be cheering for you. Never give up!_

_Love Mom_

I felt tears well up in my eyes when I was done reading. I wiped my face furiously, trying really hard not to cry. My mother knew me so well. She wasn't just my parent, she was my best friend, and she knew me better than anyone else in the world. I wondered vaguely why she didn't mention it when I called her, but she must have wanted it to be a surprise. Her present gave me the motivation I needed to tackle this new challenge ahead of me.

I slipped off my broken shoes and replaced them with the new ones from the box. I tied them tightly, and then walked a few steps in them, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. They were nice. And I was **so** ready to break them in!

I threw out my broken pair and headed towards the forest's end. But right before I was about to enter, I felt a shaking on my waist. I looked back and saw that the third pokéball on my belt was shaking back and forth. I took it and released the Pokémon inside.

"Caaa!" said Caterpie when she emerged from the ball.

"What's up Caterpie?" I asked.

Instead of answering, Caterpie started to climb up my leg.

"Hehe HAHAHA! C-Caterpie st-stop that, i-it tickles!" I stuttered out, shaking from laughter. But Caterpie didn't listen; she just kept climbing until she was sitting on my right shoulder.

"Lemme' guess. You wanna join me?" Caterpie nodded her head.

"Okay fine, just don't go wandering off okay? And you have to promise to listen to me if I tell you to get back. I don't know what we're gonna face in there." I wondered.

We entered the connecting gate, and then on to the forest beyond. I stopped when I remembered the Kakuna nest from before, but when I looked up they were gone.

_They must have evolved and flew off, _I reasoned in my head. I _just hope they won't be a problem for us while we're here._

Caterpie and I walked further into the brush, keeping our eyes open for any kind of disturbance. After about ten minutes, I noticed that we hadn't run into any wild Pokémon so far, which was strange for a forest this big. I was starting to worry, when suddenly a huge CRACK! sounded from far away.

"What was that?" I asked out loud.

It sounded like thunder, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. That was when I heard the screams.

I started to run towards the sound of the person getting attacked, only to find Professor Oak's Aid Dr. John.

"Dr. John!" I exclaimed as I moved towards him. "Are you alright!"

He was lying on his stomach, covering his head with his hands. He looked back when he heard my voice.

"Get down!" he shouted.

Just then, a bright flash of light came out from the darkness of the forest, causing me to duck. I crawled over to where Dr. John was lying down.

"Are you hurt?" I asked, not caring about my own health for the moment.

"No, I'm fine. But something attacked me."

"Alright. When I give the signal, you get up and run. I'll hold off whatever's attacking us."

"What? Leaf, are you sure?"

"Positive. I've got Pokémon to fight with. I'll be fine." I told him.

Bolts of light continued to fly through the air above us. But I couldn't pin-point where they were coming from. That was when I saw a blur of yellow dart behind a near-by tree.

"Caterpie, use tackle!" I ordered, pointing at the tree. Caterpie obliged, and for a moment the lightning stopped.

"Now, RUN!" I yelled, and the aide didn't question me.

He ran through the trees to the left, and was gone. I turned back to the place where I had seen the flash of colour. I ran towards the trees just as Caterpie came sailing out of them. She hit the ground, but got back up just as fast. We ventured through the trees to get to an opening in the forest, finally seeing who the attacker was.

It was a small, yellow and black Pokémon with red cheeks, and it was releasing lightning bolt after lightning bolt in every direction, not caring about where they went. I couldn't fathom why it was doing this, but I knew I had to stop it.

"Caterpie, use String Shot to stop it!" I called.

Caterpie shot out the sticky string, sticking the creature's feet to the ground. But it didn't like that one bit. The Pokémon released another bolt of lightning again, directed straight at us. Caterpie was hit, and the String Shot attack was burned away from the Pokémon's feet. And now that the Pokémon had a clear direction of where his attackers were, it kept on firing its move in our direction.

But just then, Caterpie acted without my command and used String Shot once more, firing it directly up into the air. The random string shot then came back down, landing on Caterpie herself. Even as Caterpie was doing this, the wild Pokémon kept on firing its attack at her. Eventually, the string from Caterpie started to cover her completely, encasing her in a white shell. That was when she started to glow a bright white.

Before I knew what was happening, Caterpie's form had changed completely. She became bigger, more solid looking, and her big black eyes had shifted to that of white. My Pokédex beeped, so I took it out and saw that it had just recorded new information.

_Metapod, the cocoon Pokémon. Even though it is encased in a hard shell, it's inner body is still soft. It cannot withstand harsh attacks while it's shell is still tender._

"A new Pokémon. Metapod…" I spoke, realizing what had just happened.

Caterpie had evolved.

But I didn't have time to celebrate. The wild Pokémon launched another attack at us, but this one bounced off of Metapod's body like nothing. It was then that I noticed the shine that Metapod's body had developed, and remembered back to my gym battle with Brock.

"Harden. Metapod learned how to use Harden. Good, now we have a way to defend ourselves." I said, more to myself than anyone.

"Okay Metapod, use Harden!" I called.

Metapod's body shined again, and again the lightning attack bounced right off. Now that our defense was up, I had to focus onoffense.

"Use Tackle!" I commanded. Metapod then jumped through the lightning attack to hit the yellow Pokémon hard. But we weren't making much progress. The small yellow Pokémon only seemed to attack more and more with every attack we landed. I remembered what the bug catchers had said. That they thought the Pokémon might have been hurt, and that's why it was attacking things.

I knew from Professor Oak that when a Pokémon was hurt, it would go into a frenzy to protect itself. If I was going to help this Pokémon and make sure it didn't hurt anyone else, I had to calm it down, and a battle was not going to accomplish that. I knew what I was about to do was risky, but it was my best shot.

"Metapod, return." I said as I recalled Metapod to her pokéball.

I then got down on my belly, and started to crawl towards the scarred creature. The Pokémon was still attacking everything, but it was getting tired. I stopped when I was still a few feet away, at a safe distance.

"Hey." I called out to it in a soothing voice. "Its okay, its okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

The Pokémon looked at me, still on guard in case I attacked it, but while its attention was focused on me it had stopped sending random lightning bolts flying everywhere.

"I'm sorry I attacked you before." I said, just trying to calm it down.

I knew I looked a bit less intimidating lying on the ground at eye level, but I was also vulnerable. I had to be on guard too.

"It'll be okay. You're safe now. No one's going to hurt you anymore."

I slid my right arm forward slowly, not reaching towards the scarred Pokémon just yet, but still getting a little closer.

"Just calm down. Be calm. I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help. Isn't that what you wanted? Is that why you were attacking everyone?" I whispered to the Pokémon.

It was getting less scarred I could tell, but it was still apprehensive. I think it knew I was no threat.

"It'll be okay. Its okay now, no need to be scared. I'm not going to hurt you." My arm was fully extended now, but still flat on the ground. The Pokémon looked at my hand, curiously.

"It'll be okay. I want to help you. Do you want help?" I just tried talking it down.

Slowly, it inched its way towards my hand, walking on all fours. It sniffed the tips of my fingers, deciding if I could be trusted or not. All I did was watch it, keeping perfectly still as I did so. It nudged one of my fingers with its nose. I noticed that it was dry, but cold. It kept nudging my fingers until I wiggled them a tiny bit. It nuzzled its cheek against my fingers. Slowly, I was able to lift my hand off of the ground and cup the Pokémon's cheek as it kept nuzzling my hand.

I smiled; the Pokémon had calmed down, and trusted me enough to touch me. I knew from the Professor, that although Pokémon attacked us, there was no Pokémon thus documented that couldn't be befriended by humans. There was a legend that the Professor would reference sometimes about how Pokémon always appeared out of tall grass because they wanted to help us, not hurt us. And now it was my time to do that for this Pokémon.

But suddenly; out of nowhere really, the Pokémon stopped nuzzling me, and collapsed onto the forest floor. It happened so suddenly, I froze for a moment, before I sprung into action. I sat up immediately, and turned the Pokémon onto its back. I pulled out my Pokédex, seeing if I could get any useful information out of it. It told me that the creature's name was Pikachu, but not much else.

_Pikachu, _I thought. _What's wrong with you?_

I put my hand to Pikachu's forehead, and noticed it was hot. Pikachu was sick, and besides that, it looked like it had been attacked. It had cuts and scratches all along its yellow body. This wasn't good, I had to get it some help, but I was afraid moving Pikachu would send her into an attacking frenzy again. Plus, I had no idea how she'd react if I took her out of the forest and into a Pokémon Center I had to be the one to help Pikachu. I called out my first Pokémon.

"Bulba?" he questioned when he came out.

"Bulbasaur, can you gather up a bunch of leaves for me? As many as you can." I asked

"Bulba!" He exclaimed before he went off. I had to improvise a bed somehow, and my sleeping bag was too big and too warm. Right now Pikachu needed to cool down. I held Pikachu in my arms, and looked for other signs of sickness. I noticed that besides the natural red in its cheeks, Pikachu looked positively green in its face. Across the bridge of its nose to be more precise.

I remembered back to what the Professor had taught me about medicine. Red was a burn, blue was frost bite, twitching was paralysis, and a colour change of the face, ranging between green, purple, or even black sometimes was…

Poison.

This Pikachu had been poisoned, most likely in a fight with a bunch of bug Pokémon that had ganged up on it.

Bulbasaur came back then, carrying a bunch of green leaves with its twin vines.

"Good job boy! Now set them down in front of me."

Bulbasaur placed the pile of leaves down in front of me before scooping them up with his leaves, trying to change the shape of the pile. Bulbasaur must have known what I intended to do, because he arranged them into a make-shift bed.

"Thanks Bulbasaur." I said.

I placed Pikachu into the leaf bed before getting to work.

Because I was a trainer, I made sure that I always had an array of medicines on me at all times. I had a rainbow of different medicine bottles tucked away in my yellow bag, and it didn't take me very long to find the one I was looking for.

An Antidote. The Pokémon medicine designed for curing poison. I knew that there were many ways for a Pokémon to get that specific medical status, but the main one was inhalation. This one however looked like it was either ingested or got in through a wound. But Pikachu had so many wounds; I wasn't sure which one to treat, leaving me with only one way to administer the medicine.

I grabbed an empty water bottle from my bag and poured the solution from the antidote bottle into it. I re-attached the cap you could drink out of and put it too Pikachu's lips.

It took a little coaxing, as antidote wasn't the most pleasant thing to drink, but after it was over, the greenness from Pikachu's face went down remarkably. I then pulled out a bottle of Potion to treat the wounds, a few bandages, a wash cloth, and a full bottle of water.

"Bulbasaur, can you wet this cloth with water and put it on Pikachu's forehead?" I asked.

Bulbasaur used his vines to complete the task. Meanwhile, I sprayed all of Pikachu's wounds with my bottle of Potion, and bandaged them as I went. Some could be covered with simple bandages, but others needed to be wrapped around its whole body. While I worked, I realized that this whole time I had been calling Pikachu an 'it' and realized that I didn't like doing that. Which led me to wonder what gender Pikachu was, and if there was any sort of physical indicator.

When I was done with the bandages, I looked at the picture on my Pokédex again of Pikachu, noticing a difference. The picture on the Pokédex showed Pikachu with a straight-edged tail that looked like a lightning bolt. But when I looked at the Pikachu in front of me, I saw that's its tail didn't end in a straight edge, but more of a heart shape. I wondered if that was an indicator of gender.

"Hey Bulbasaur, can **you **tell whether Pikachu is a boy or a girl?" I asked.

Bulbasaur then went up to Pikachu and sniffed it a bit. When he was done, he came back around to me and pointed to the third pokéball on my belt.

"Metapod? Wait, do you mean she's a girl?"

Bulbasaur nodded his head. "Bul-ba."

"Well if you say so." At least I wouldn't have to refer to her as 'it' anymore.

I stayed there for a while, not wanting to move. I watched as Pikachu slept peacefully, looking much better than she had when I found her. I decided that I didn't want to leave until I knew that she would be okay.

I got my sleeping bag from my shoulder bag, wanting something more comfortable to lie on instead of the ground. Bulbasaur and I lay down on it, and from there we just watched Pikachu sleep peacefully. I don't remember when it happened, but eventually, Bulbasaur and I fell asleep, and by the time we woke up, it was the next day.

I opened my eyes a little, wondering when it had got so much brighter, when I realized that sitting in front of my face was a pair of little black eyes with red cheeks. I fully woke up then, my head jolting up. _I must have fallen asleep,_ I thought.

I looked at the Pikachu before me, seeing that she was studying me just as closely as I was her. I looked down at my right hand, and slowly slid it along the ground to see if she remembered me. And just like last time, she nuzzled her face against my fingers. She did remember me. So hopefully she wouldn't attack me this time.

"Good morning." I said to her. She tilted her head to the side in a confused manner.

"Buuul-baaaaa." Bulbasaur yawned as he woke up too. He smiled at Pikachu, showing that he meant no harm.

"Pika?" Pikachu said.

"I'm glad you're feeling better." I commented, watching as she stood up and walked around on her own.

"Pi-Pikachu…" she said, still unsure of my presence.

"Well, you look like you're alright. So I guess we should get going then." I said.

I only wanted to stay until I knew she would be alright, and now that I knew she was, it was time to get going. I hadn't come too far into the forest, so I could probably make it back to Pewter City in a few minutes. It took me a week to get through the forest the first time, but now that I knew all the short cuts, it wouldn't take me nearly as long to navigate.

I packed up my sleeping bag and put away all the medical supplies from yesterday.

"Bye!" I said as I started to walk away, Bulbasaur in tow.

"Bulba-saur!" he bid his farewell too before following close behind me.

We walked for about five minutes before I stopped suddenly. Last time I had been careless about where I was going but this time I heard it. The buzzing sound. And I knew then what was coming.

The Beedrill appeared from the trees, but this time there wasn't just one of them. There were six. The five Kakuna, plus the one that had been guarding them the first time I walked through the forest. I knew Bulbasaur couldn't handle them alone, so I called out my other Pokémon.

"Pidgey, Metapod, come on out!"

They appeared beside Bulbasaur, ready for a fight.

"Bulbasaur use Vine Whip, Pidgey use Gust, and Metapod use String Shot."

All my Pokémon jumped into action, but it was still six against three. All of them would have to fight against two of the Beedrill, and our odds weren't looking good.

The Beedrill were working together. One would take the attack, while the other would attack my Pokémon, and it was working. All three of my guys hit the forest floor, and the Beedrill were still swarming.

Honestly, I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of this one. The odds were bad, and frankly I didn't know if we could win. I would run if I thought I could escape them, but Beedrill were persistent Pokémon. I didn't know what I was going to do, and the Beedrill were closing in fast.

"Pika-CHU!" sounded from behind me.

And over my head, came several Thundershock attacks, which shocked all six Beedrill out of the air. I looked behind me and saw one bandaged Pikachu landing on her feet. Guess she was repaying the favor. Her intervention gave me an opportunity.

"Pidgey, use Gust!"

Pidgey then got up again and stirred up a powerful wind, which lifted the singed Beedrill up into the air.

"Now Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!"

Bulbasaur struck down all six of them with his vines. Pikachu then jumped out in front and used her Thundershock attack one more time. After that, the Beedrill went running, or in this case, flying. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, that one had been way too close for comfort. I walked over to Pikachu and leaned down.

"Thanks Pikachu, you really saved us."

All my Pokémon gathered around and gave their thanks as well. Pikachu looked at all of them with a confused look on her face, like she wasn't sure why they were thanking her.

"Well, we've got to get going. You should get back to your family too." I told her as a returned all of my Pokémon.

"Bye-bye!" I said as I walked away.

_Well, at least the travelers would be safe now._ Those Beedrill would probably think twice about attacking trainers now, and now that Pikachu's all healed up, she won't be attacking travelers either. I reminisced about all of this and more as I continued through the forest.

The time it took me to get back to the connecting gate was much less than it was the first time. I walked through the last thicket of tree's and up to the gate, intending to go inside when I heard someone besides me headed in the same direction. I looked back, but didn't see anyone behind me. I stopped and the other steps stopped with me. Right beside me in fact. I looked down to my right side to see Pikachu standing right beside me, looking up at me like **I** was the one who was weird for stopping.

"Pikachu? Why did you follow me?" I asked.

"Pi-pika." She said, and then jumped up onto my bag and hung onto the strap.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Pikachu Pi-pikachu!" Pikachu said, pointing to my waist with her finger. I realized she was pointing at the pokéballs on my belt.

"My pokéballs? Those are where my Pokémon live." I explained.

Pikachu looked at them with fascination. I picked her up off my bag and put her on the ground. I pulled an empty one out of my bag.

"See, Pokémon go in here when you want them to be your friends and bring them with you." I told her. She looked at the sphere intently, investigating it like a mystery.

"Maybe if someone catches you you'll get to live in one someday." I said.

I couldn't deny that I had considered catching her myself, but looking at the bandages covering her body I just didn't have the stomach. She had already gone through so much; I didn't want to cause her any more pain by battling her.

"Well, I have to get going. Don't follow me from here, alright?" I said, as I stood up and tried to walk away.

But Pikachu got mad and jumped up on my head, pushing my hat down to cover my eyes.

"Pikachu!" I yelled. "That's not funny, cut it out!"

I tried to fix my hat so I could see again, but Pikachu wouldn't let me. She picked my hat up between her teeth and jumped off my head."

"Hey!"

Pikachu put my hat down, and started yelling at me. Pointing in all directions like she was blaming me for something.

"I don't understand. What do you want?"

Pikachu stopped yelling and looked at me. She had such determined eyes, not angry like I originally thought. She had seemed so weak before that I was surprised to see this side of her, but Pikachu was a fighter, I realized. And she didn't want me to leave without her.

I looked at the pokéball in my hand, and then crouched down to her level, holding it out in front of me.

"Is this what you want?" I asked. "Do you want to come with me?"

Pikachu smiled, happy that I finally understood what she wanted. I then tapped her on the head with it, and watched as she was sucked inside. The ball shook between my fingers.

Once. Twice. Three Times. Click.

And there you have it. I had caught Pikachu.

But then suddenly, the ball opened again, and Pikachu had popped out. She jumped up and sat on my shoulder, like all my other Pokémon seemed to like doing too. I wondered if that was just some quirky coincidence they all happened to share, or if I just had a really comfortable shoulder.

I then picked up my hat from the ground and put it back on my head. And with my new running shoes and my new Pikachu, I proceeded to run back into Pewter city, knowing that with such a feisty electric type now on my side, that there would never be a dull moment in my life ever again.


	10. Chapter 9: Internal Conflict

**A/N: Hey y'all! You remember when I said I was going on a trip a few chapters back? Well, I leave next week, and I'll be stuck on a plane for a full day. Like, 24 hours. Yeah, I'm going to Australia. And I live in like, Canada. Anyway, I mention this because due to the fact I won't have internet while traveling, I won't be updating next week. But before you guys worry, I promise to update with 2 chapters the week after next in order to make up for the delay. Hope you guys can wait till then!**

Chapter 9: Internal Conflict

My team of, now 4, Pokémon and I spent a bit more time in Pewter City before heading off to conquer Mt. Moon. Now that Pikachu had joined our family, I wanted to get her checked over by Nurse Joy before we started traveling again, just to make sure she had completely recovered. Now, as we strode away from the city limits, Pikachu was bandage free. All of her wounds had completely healed since the Beedrill ambush in Viridian Forest, and now we were on our way. But still…

*POP!*

The sound came from behind me, more specifically from my belt. A bluish light traveled around to materialize in front of me, and faded to a yellow coloured mouse with red cheeks.

"Pikachu, again!?" I exclaimed.

Pikachu climbed up my body to sit on my shoulder. Ever since I caught her, she'd been doing that every single day. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why though.

Before now I'd never even heard of a Pokémon who could let itself out of its pokéball. I didn't know if she was doing it because she didn't like it in there, or if she was just preferred to be walking around outside.

"Pika!" she said and smiled at me.

_Man, I was such a push-over._

I knew this kind of behavior shouldn't be encouraged, but I just couldn't bring myself to get mad at her. In the days we'd been together I'd learned a lot about her personality, and she was very different from the Pokémon I'd caught before.

Bulbasaur was calm and collected; he was the rock of the group. Pidgey was brave and energetic: he loved to fight. Metapod was the lonely baby, who always wanted to be around others. But Pikachu….she was different.

She was very hasty because she always acted before she thought. I couldn't help but think she must have been alone for a very long time in that forest, because the concept of having people to care for you seemed totally foreign to her right now. But I think she'd get used to it, since she was a part of our team now.

Route 3 was a very curvy looking road. It was paved and surrounded by stone cliffs like Pewter city was. I vaguely worried about how I was going to get over Mt. Moon, because looking down at my outfit of a red skirt and blue shirt; I wasn't exactly dressed for rock climbing. But I guess I'd cross that road when I came to it.

I walked along route 3 with Pikachu perched on my shoulder. There didn't seem to be any wild Pokémon around, which wasn't surprising really. With all these cliffs and lack of vegetation, it would take a pretty tough Pokémon to live in a place like this.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted before suddenly jumping off my shoulder and running away.

"Pikachu, what are you doing!? COME BACK!" I shouted, but Pikachu didn't listen.

_What was going on?_ I thought to myself._ Why wasn't she listening to me like my other Pokémon did?_

I ran after her, trying really hard not to lose sight of her, but she was much faster than I was. The twists and turns of the road made it hard to keep up with her.

"Hey! Get off!" I heard a girl yell.

I rounded a corner and came to a ledge. At the bottom of the stone ridge was a girl with short brown hair. I couldn't make out much more about her though, because most of my view was being obscured by a furry yellow creature.

_Oh no,_ I thought.

I jumped down from the ledge and ran up to the struggling girl.

"Pikachu, stop it!" I yelled as I grabbed hold of Pikachu from behind and tried to pull her off.

That ended up being a mistake.

Our combined screams mixed together on the stone road. I had never been electrocuted before, and I had never been curious as to what it felt like.

It really hurt. All that energy zipped across my skin and sizzled through my veins. It was over very quickly, yet not soon enough.

The girl and I slumped down to the cold road, completely drained of our energy. Pikachu, realizing that it was me who had tried to pull her off, jumped up on my lap and dropped her head.

"Pi-ka…" she moaned in a guilty voice.

"WHAT is wrong with that thing!" the brown haired girl yelled at me.

Now that I had a better look at her I saw that she was wearing red shorts and a white t-shirt. She had brown eyes and looked very angry.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why she did that." I tried to explain.

"Well obviously your electric rat must not have been trained very well. It just out-right attacked me for no reason!" the girl exclaimed.

"I said I was sorry alright! No need to be rude about it." I shot back.

"Rude? I am not rude! Your Pokémon almost barbecued us both!" she yelled at me.

"Maybe she attacked you because she could sense your bad attitude." I suggested snidely.

"You know what!? I just came out here to train! I do NOT have to deal with this!" the girl said as she stood up and brushed off her clothes.

I started to feel a bit guilty. Yeah, this girl had been a bit rude, but Pikachu had just attacked her for no reason. I wanted to defend my Pokémon, but I also knew I had to own up to our mistake.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? Pikachu, you apologize too." I said, standing up next to the girl.

"Pi-pika." Pikachu said, letting her ears drop to hang beside her face.

"I really have no idea why Pikachu did that. I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot." I said. I stretched out my hand towards hers. "My name is Leaf; it's nice to meet you."

She looked at my hand suspiciously, like she was afraid it was some kind of trick. But eventually, she reached out her hand to grasp mine and shook it.

"My name's Janice, nice to meet you. Although it would have been nicer if you'd just introduced yourself in the first place." She responded.

"Did I mention I was sorry?"

Pikachu squirmed her way out of my arms to stand on all fours on the stone road. Her cheeks sparked as she glared up at Janice.

"It's not going to attack me again is it?" she asked nervously.

"No, that's not it. I think Pikachu just wants to battle." I said, guessing at the last part.

"Pi-kachu!" Pikachu cheered. I had a feeling I'd guessed right.

"Well sorry to disappoint you, but I can't. I have to go and meet up with my sister. And besides, I'm not sure that Pokémon of yours is…..stable." Janice said.

"Hey, she's just a little over-excited. No need to insult her like that!" I yelled angrily.

"Pika pika Pikachu!" Pikachu yelled from below.

"Sorry, but I really have to go." Janice said as she started to walk away.

"Pika-CHU!" Pikachu launched herself at Janice before I could stop her.

"HEY! Let go! Get off of me!" Janice yelled as Pikachu pulled at her hair.

"Sorry, SORRY!" I apologized again, pulling Pikachu off. "I guess Pikachu really wants to battle you."

Janice still looked rattled. I would be to if I had a random Pokémon basically assault me like that. I just didn't understand why Pikachu was doing this.

"That Pokémon of yours needs to learn how to control itself. It's going to hurt someone if it's not careful." Janice advised. "I think you need to train it more before you let it battle."

"She's a girl, not an it." I corrected, but I couldn't help consider her words. In a way, maybe I had been encouraging Pikachu's behavior by not punishing her for her actions. Maybe we needed more time together before we jumped into a battle.

"Listen, I'd love to stand here and lecture you all day, but I need to meet up with my sister. Goodbye, little electric rat." Janice said to Pikachu.

"Pika-CHUUUUUUU!"

We were on the ground again. Pikachu may not have been very big, but boy did her Thundershock pack a punch. I looked at the black singe marks decorating my skin. _Why was this happening?_

"That's it! I'm out of here!" Janice said as she stomped away.

Pikachu and I watched her go. I was utterly confused at the situation we were in. I didn't understand why Pikachu was acting this way. I mean, I knew she was quick to act, but I didn't think she'd try and attack people to try and start a fight. Could this behavior be because of the ambush?

"Well, that went well. Hope you're proud of yourself." I scolded.

"Pi-Pikachu!"

Pikachu turned her head away from me and puffed out her cheeks like a child.

"Don't act like that. You were the one who attacked us." I said. "Just take a break for now okay?"

I called Pikachu back to her pokéball and stood up. The Thundershock attack, although painful, wouldn't do permanent damage. I didn't think now was the time to try and diagnose Pikachu's behavioral problems. For now, I would continue on my way to Mt. Moon and worry about Pikachu later. Hopefully, she wouldn't cause any more problems for me today.

* * *

Pikachu was a problem.

While traveling, I learned that route 3 was a prime place for trainers to gather and battle one another. I ran into several as I continued on my way to Mt. Moon. They were mostly beginners like me. Some battled with flying types, others traveled with bug types, and some even had poison types.

But the battles, well, hadn't gone as smoothly as I would have liked.

Every time I was challenged to a battle, I would call out my Pokémon.

"Metapod go!"

"Bulbasaur, I choose you!"

"Pidgey, come on out!"

And every time, the battle would start off fine. I'd get in a few hits; they'd get in a few hits. Everything would seem like it was going smoothly, but then I'd hear the sound.

*POP*

And every time, chaos would ensue.

Pikachu had interrupted EVER SINGLE ONE of my battles. And every single time, the same thing would happen. I would try to call her back into her ball, she would dodge the beam. The opponent would complain about it, I would apologize. Then Pikachu would get into an argument with one of MY Pokémon, and end up releasing a Thundershock attack.

And it would hit everything.

It wasn't as strong as the first one was, being at a farther range, but it still hurt! It would hit me, my Pokémon, and the people we were fighting. I would need to get checked out in the next city for lasting effects of being shocked multiple times.

And then Pikachu would look guilty for shocking us, and go back into her ball.

Temporarily.

She was a sneaky one. Every time I called her back, I would be lulled into a false sense of security.

_Surely she'll stay in this time,_ I thought. _There's no way she would interrupt another battle,_ I told myself.

But she did. Over and over again.

By mid-afternoon I slumped down against a stone cliff, ready to just die of mediocrity.

"I can't take it. There's just no end." I whined to myself.

I had only been traveling with Pikachu for a day and I was ready to throw in the towel. When I had caught her, I thought she could be one of the Pokémon I could train for my team. I thought an electric type would be a great addition, and that she'd become a part of our family just as easily as the others had. But I was wrong. If she kept mis-behaving, I didn't know what I was going to do.

I didn't want to let her go. She had chosen me. Letting her go now would be like betraying her. And, I didn't know how or why, but I got the feeling that somehow I could get through to her. That she was meant to be a part of my team. It was the same feeling I had when I chose Bulbasaur, and when I caught Pidgey and Caterpie. I just knew they were meant to help me. But how could I train a Pokémon who wouldn't listen to me?

*POP*

I physically growled.

"PIKACHU, STAY IN YOUR FREAKING BALL!" I shouted.

All of my frustration that day had been caused solely by that little electric nightmare, and I needed a release! I was so fed up with her appearances that I was pulling my own hair out! But when I looked around, I didn't see Pikachu anywhere.

"Pikachu…?" I called.

*POP*

"Pika?" she questioned in front of me. I glared in anger.

"Really? REALLY!? **NOW** YOU COME WHEN I CALL YOU!?" I yelled.

Pikachu didn't back down. She just put her hands on her hips and stared me down, like I was the one who was in the wrong here.

"But wait," I said, calming myself. "If you're here, then what was the first sound?"

I looked around the area, noticing the tall field of grass in front of me that had grown despite the cliffs of stone. I didn't see anything strange, until I looked a little closer.

A section of the grass was shaking more than the others. It was almost trembling. But if it were a wild Pokémon then wouldn't it move around in more than one area.

I stood up and stalked towards the grass, keeping my guard up. It could still be a dangerous Pokémon. But the closer I got the more sound I was able to make out. There was this faint whimpering sound coming from the grass, and it sounded surprisingly human.

I got close enough to the grass to spread some of the blades apart, just enough to look into the shaking vegetation.

Crouched down, with her back to me was a girl. She had long, reddish-brown hair and looked about my age. But it was hard to tell when I could really only see the back of her head. I reached out towards her.

"Excuse me." I said when I touched her shoulder.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEKKK" she screamed.

I jumped back a foot when I heard her high pitched wail. I covered my ears with my hands.

"Something-something touched me! It was a ghost, or a monster, or a wild beast!" she wailed from her spot in the grass.

"No it wasn't." I interjected, causing her to turn around to face me.

She was wearing a blue skirt with a white blouse. I noticed that she had brown eyes. Now looking at her full on, I couldn't help but feel that she looked strangely familiar….

"Oh, it was only you?" she asked, standing up.

"Um, yes? I was just checking that you were okay. What were you doing in the grass?" I asked.

"Um, well I…." she mumbled. She played with her hands and looked towards the ground. She refused to meet my eyes.

"There you are!" I heard someone shout.

We both turned to look at another girl walking towards us. I recognized her right away as Janice.

"Big sister!" the girl beside me screamed and ran to tackle Janice.

"What are you doing? You were supposed to meet me like 20 minutes ago." Janice asked her younger sister.

I then understood why the younger one looked so familiar. She looked like Janice.

Once Janice spotted me, she froze.

"Demon Pikachu, DEMON PIKACHU!" she yelled and pointed wildly at Pikachu, who was standing next to me.

"Nice to see you again too." I replied sarcastically.

"Huh? You know this girl sis?" the younger one asked.

"Yeah. Her, her crazy lightning demon and I are already acquainted." She replied. A Pidgey flew down to sit on her shoulder.

"Normally I'd argue with you about the 'crazy' and 'demon' part of that sentence, but this time I agree."

"PI PIKA PIKACHU!" Pikachu rampaged beside me.

"Return, you." I called as I put her back in her ball.

"So, I see that you've met my little sister. You didn't scar her for life like you did me did you?" Janice asked.

"More like she scarred me. I think your scream busted one of my eardrums." I commented.

"Eheheh, sorry 'bout that." she apologized sheepishly.

"Seriously, did you get scared again?" Janice asked. Her sister looked down, embarrassed.

"So, exactly who are you?" I asked, curious about the people I kept running into.

"Well, you already know that I'm Janice."

"And I'm Robin. Nice to meet you." The younger one said.

"Well, I'm Leaf." I said, more to Robin than Janice.

Suddenly we heard a growling sound, coming from all three of us.

"Guess its lunch time." Janice said.

"Hey Leaf, wanna join us?" Robin asked politely. Janice looked at her sister with irritation.

"Sure, if you two don't mind." I responded.

"Only if you promise to keep that Pikachu inside its ball." Janice added.

Normally, I'd argue with her, but I was too tired of being electrocuted today. I promised them I wouldn't let Pikachu out (although that probably wouldn't stop her from coming out anyway) and we went to find a place to sit.

Near the end of the route were a few picnic tables set up. We settled down at one and shared our food. The sisters had sandwiches and I had packed some fruit before I left Pewter city. Janice's Pidgey continued to sit on her shoulder while we ate, occasionally getting fed bits of crust by the two sisters.

"So what brings you guys to Route 3?" I asked.

"We're from Cerulean City. We just came from Mt. Moon." Robin noted, unwrapping a sandwich.

"So you guys are training right?" I asked, biting into an apple.

"Well, kind of. You see, our family owns the daycare center down by Cerulean City, and we both help out whenever we can." Janice said. She threw a pokéball into the air to reveal another Pidgey.

"Two Pidgey's?" I questioned.

"The one on my shoulder is mine. The other one is from the daycare. I took it out to train it with mine and teach it some new moves. That's what the daycare does. They level up your Pokémon for you and teach them new moves they didn't know before." Janice explained while she recalled the daycare Pidgey.

"I see, so you both work there?" I asked.

"Well, whenever they need us too. I've actually wanted to go on a journey for the longest time, but my dreams kind of got side-tracked when I started helping out around the daycare. And Robin here just became a trainer." Janice said.

"Really? How long have you been one?" I asked her.

"Three days." Robin proclaimed.

"That's so cool! So, are you just here to train other peoples Pokémon?"

"Actually, I've been trying to catch a new Pokémon." Robin said. "But, I'm not very good at it. My sister is actually only here to help me out."

"I didn't want to catch it for her though, so I gave her some advice and then left her on her own for a while. I figured I'd get some training in, and then see how she was doing. We were supposed to meet up later, but Robin didn't show, so I sent Pidgey to go and look for her, and then I found her with you."

"So, did you catch a new Pokémon?" I asked.

"No. I tired, but once Janice left me alone, I thought I heard something and got scared." Robin admitted, looking down at her lap. "That's why I was in the grass. I was hiding"

"I see." I said.

_So that popping sound I heard earlier was Janice releasing her Pokémon to look for Robin. _

"Robin, you can't live your whole life in fear. One of these day's you're going to have to suck it up and be brave." Janice said.

"Well, that's easy for you to say! You're not scared of anything!" Robin yelled.

"You know that isn't true!" Janice shot back.

Looking at the two of them arguing, I started to miss Red a bit. We had a pretty good relationship being so close in age, but we still fought sometimes.

"Do you need any help?" I asked, causing them both to look at me.

"Really!?" Robin beamed.

"No thanks. Robin has to do this on her own, no outside help!" Janice said to her sister.

"But I can't! I've tried and tried, but I can't do it on my own! Please let Leaf help, please, please, please!" Robin begged. I could see that Janice was starting to crack.

_I know that feel bro_.

Or sis in this case. When little siblings beg, older siblings are powerless.

"Fine, but she can't catch it for you understand!" Janice said.

"YAY!" Robin celebrated. "Oh Leaf, how can I repay you?"

"Oh you don't need to do anything for me, I'll be happy to help."

*POP*

"Why me?" I asked as Pikachu climbed up on the table.

"What is with that thing anyway?" Janice asked.

"She's not a thing, she's a girl!" I yelled. "And honestly, I have no idea what's wrong. She just won't listen to me."

"PERFECT!" Robin shouted, clapping her hands together in excitement.

"Come again?" I asked.

"I'll help you with your disobedient Pikachu if you help me catch a Pokémon. It'll be a trade of skills! What do you say?" Robin offered.

"Can you really help?" I asked.

"She is pretty good with the Pokémon at the daycare. If anyone can help, I'm sure its Robin." Janice assured me.

I smiled. I didn't think Pikachu's behavioral problems could be solved within a day, but I think this was definitely a step in the right direction. Robin and Janice both must know something that would help. They worked with different kinds of Pokémon all the time!

"Alright, then you've got yourself a deal!" I exclaimed.

* * *

"First things first." I announced. "I'll teach you how to catch a Pokémon."

Robin sat on her knees in front of me, looking very attentive. Janice just stood off to the side and rolled her eyes at her sister's behavior.

"When battling a wild Pokémon, you have to remember that they act on instinct most of the time. They don't battle with a strategy, because they don't have a trainer commanding them." I explained.

"Right." Robin said.

"And when battling a wild Pokémon, you have to remember that you're not trying to beat it, you're only trying to weaken it. Using moves that will lower their stats or cause status conditions like poison or paralysis will make them easier to catch."

"Wow! How many Pokémon have you caught?" she asked.

"I've caught three, but I have four." I responded. "Come out everyone!" I called.

Bulbasaur, Pidgey and Metapod all came out of their pokéballs to stand in front of me.

"So cool!" Robin squealed. "But wait, where's the fourth one?"

I looked over to Pikachu, who was sitting under the picnic table looking stuck up. All my other Pokémon glared at her, not happy about being shocked multiple times that day.

"Looks like there's trouble in paradise." Janice commented.

"We're not dealing with my problem right now; we're dealing with Robin's!" I shouted.

"Nido…nido….." I suddenly heard.

All three of us looked around the area to try and discern where that noise had come from. I noticed that at the end of the route beside our picnic table was what looked like a little field of grass, kind of like the one Robin was hiding in. There wasn't enough of it that more than one Pokémon could live in there, so maybe it was a nest.

Sometimes Pokémon liked to make nests in strange areas to ensure their family's safety. That's what my father had told me when those Pidgey had nested on our roof back home. So if that was true, then this little patch of grass in the middle of a very rocky terrain was actually the home of some wild Pokémon.

"In there." I whispered.

Both sisters looked at me and nodded. Then suddenly.

"CHUUU!" Pikachu yelled as she released her Thundershock attack into the grass.

"SERIOUSLY!?" I yelled.

_Janice might be right_, I thought. _Pikachu could very well be crazy!_

Seconds later, a blue Pokémon came running out of the nest, startled by Pikachu's attack. It was kind of spiky looking, and had big red eyes. I pulled out my Pokédex.

It told me its name was Nidoran, and that this one was a female. Apparently you could tell what gender it was by its coloring. Realizing what this meant, a smile lit my face.

"ROBIN!" I shouted. "This is your chance, go battle with her!" Gesturing to the frightened Nidoran.

"What, right now!?" Robin questioned.

"Yes now! I'll walk you through it! Just send out your Pokémon before it gets away!" I explained.

Robin looked unsure, but complied with my demand. Very hesitantly, she walked over to the small Nidoran. Janice and I stood on either side of her. Nidoran looked scared as her gaze switched between us. With the three of us standing in a line, there was no way she would able to escape.

"Now call out your Pokémon!" I told her.

"R-right! Jigglypuff, I choose you!" she called as she threw her red and white sphere.

Out of her pokéball appeared a round, pink Pokémon with big blue eyes. I recorded its name on my Pokédex and then concentrated on the battle.

The wild Nidoran lowered its ears and hissed. It was getting ready to fight.

"What moves does Jigglypuff know?" I asked.

"Um, pound, double slap, defense curl and sing." Robin listed.

"First thing is stat moves. Make yourself stronger or the opponent weaker before you attack!" I called.

"Okay Jigglypuff, defense curl!" Robin commanded.

Her Jigglypuff then curled itself up into a ball. Nidoran tried to use scratch, but her attack bounced right off.

"Now that your defense is up, attack physically!" I suggested.

"Jigglypuff, now use pound!" Jigglypuff then hit Nidoran with its glowing white paw, causing some damage.

Before I could tell Robin what to do next, a streak of colour came out of the nest and tackled Jigglypuff away from Nidoran.

"Huh, what happened?" Robin asked.

I looked at the Pokémon now standing in front of the female Nidoran. It looked just like Nidoran did, except it was purple and had green ears. It must have been the male Nidoran.

"That must be Nidoran's mate." Janice said.

"Oh no! How am I going to catch Nidoran now when it's two on one?" Robin asked.

Pikachu then jumped in front of me, cheeks sparking.

"Pikachu?" I wondered.

"Pi-Pikachu!" she challenged. Her body was sparkling with electricity.

"I think she wants to even the odds." Janice said.

"But, I can't battle. You said so yourself that Pikachu wasn't trained enough to handle a real battle!" I said.

"I meant with a trainer. If your dead-set on raising this Pikachu, then you'll have to let it battle sometime. Maybe a wild battle would be more your speed right now." Janice explained.

I looked down at Pikachu, very afraid of being shocked again. But when Pikachu looked up at me, I saw that same fierce determination she had in her eyes when I caught her. She wanted to battle. She wanted to grow stronger. Maybe I had been depriving her of that until now.

"Pikachu, if we're going to battle, then you have to do exactly as I say alright?"

Pikachu nodded her head.

"And if I tell you to come back, you have to listen to me. Understand?"

"Pika." Pikachu nodded again.

"Alright, then let's go. Pikachu, use tail whip on the male Nidoran!"

Pikachu whipped her yellow tail back and forth, lowering the Nidoran's guard.

"Now Thundershock!"

Pikachu released a bolt of electricity that hit the male Nidoran, clearing a pathway for Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff, use double slap!" Robin yelled.

Jigglypuff then slapped the female Nidoran back and forth. The male Nidoran noticed this and tried to intercept again, but Pikachu cut him off.

"Use growl Pikachu!"

Pikachu then growled menacingly at the purple Nidoran, causing him to take a few steps back.

"Jigglypuff, use sing!"

Jigglypuff then started to sing a song, releasing colorful music noted from her mouth which surrounded the enemy Nidoran. Slowly but surely, her eyes closed and she slumped to the ground, completely asleep.

The male Nidoran saw that his mate was in trouble, and scratched at Pikachu so he could get to her, but something went wrong.

When Nidoran clawed Pikachu, his skin started to spark like Pikachu's had, and the male Nidoran started to twitch. He couldn't bring himself to move forward.

"Paralysis? Right, Pikachu's ability is static!" I realized as both Nidoran could no longer move.

"Now's the time, try catching it!" I told Robin as I fished out my own pokéball from my bag.

"Okay!" Robin agreed.

"Go pokeball!" we shouted at the same time. While her pokéball hit the female Nidoran, mine hit the male. Both creatures got sucked inside.

One, Two, Three, Click!

And there you have it.

I walked over to both pokéballs and picked them up. I handed the one Robin had thrown to her.

"Good job." I complimented.

Robin took the pokéball in her hand and looked at it proudly. I was proud of her too. It felt good to have been able to help her. She just looked so happy!

"Did you see that sis? I just caught my very first Pokémon!" Robin cheered as she held her pokéball up in the air.

"I saw it. I'm proud of you Robin!" Janice cheered as she watched her sister celebrate.

"And this belongs to you." I said to Janice, walking over to her and handing her the pokéball in my hand.

"Wait, WHAT!? You caught Nidoran, why are you giving it to me?" she asked confused.

"Well, you see, I'm trying to fill up this." I said, pulling out my Pokédex. "It's a digital encyclopedia. In order to record all the information of every Pokémon in the region, I need to catch them first. But I usually just release them once I have their info because there's no way I'd be able to train them all." I explained.

"But those two Nidoran are mates. I didn't think it would be fair to release this Nidoran when his mate had been caught. But, because you two are sisters, now they'll be able to see each other whenever they want." I concluded.

Janice looked down at the pokéball I had just given her, shock present on her face.

"Come on sis, let him out!" Robin said. Robin threw her pokéball into the air and let out her Nidoran. The female Nidoran smiled when she came out.

"Hi Nidoran, I'm Robin, and I'm gonna be your trainer!" Robin said.

Nidoran scampered up to Robin and nuzzled her nose against her hand. Robin looked absolutely thrilled with her new friend.

Janice looked unsure, but she let her new Nidoran out anyway. The boy Nidoran looked around confused before spotting his mate. He walked over to her and they nuzzled each other's faces in content.

"Aww, how cute!" Robin squealed, couching down in front of them both.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Janice asked again.

"Positive. Even if I kept Nidoran, they would still be apart. This way they can always stay together." I said.

The male Nidoran then walked away from his mate and up to Janice and me. He spotted the pokéball in Janice's hand, and walked over to her instead of me. He rubbed his head up against her leg, careful not to prick her with his poison point.

Janice smiled down at her new Nidoran.

"I guess you are pretty cute." She admitted, trying to keep her cool. Janice smiled at me then. "Thanks. That was nice of you."

"No problem!" I responded. Pikachu jumped up on my shoulder then, obviously proud of her battle.

"But don't think this makes up for your Pokémon almost frying me today." Janice said while scowling. "But I guess, since you helped my sister and all, I could stick around to help with the next problem on our agenda." Janice said.

I looked at Pikachu, and then around at my other Pokémon. They were still glaring daggers at each other. My blood ran cold when I realized what she meant.

"Time to deal with the electric menace."

**A/N: Again, sorry about the delay, but what can I do? I hope you all had a good time reading! See you in 2 weeks!**


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